Concert review and setlist: Bettie Serveert serves up Dutch rock at the Duck Room, Friday, October 22

Nate Burrell

Bettie Serveert, pioneer indie-rockers from Amsterdam, played the Duck Room on Friday night to an enthusiastic crowd of around 200. Kicking off the set with probably one of their most familiar songs, “Palomine,” the 4-piece band, including Carol van Dyk on vocals and guitar, Peter Visser on lead guitar, Herman Bunskoeke on bass, and newest member, Joppe Molenaar on drums, delivered top form performances. Van Dyk’s vocals came across crystal clear and Molenaar added a vigorous, powerful element to the band. He pounded tempos both speedy and slow, as van Dyk ripped her unmistakable voice over enthralling chord progressions that climb around noise and gorgeous melodies.

Van Dyk stood center stage with short, hyper-blonde bob, in a backless top that revealed her smooth, shapely arms, black mini, black tights. She is a front woman to be compared with the likes of Debbie Harry and Tanya Donelly.

My favorite moment of the night occurred when the band spun away from “Tom Boy” into an ambient, almost jazz piece. Van Dyk then wove some lines by Liz Phair (“Divorce Song” from Exile in Guyville) between the “wa-was” of floating guitars and intermittent cymbal crashes:

That it’s harder to be friends than lovers,
and you shouldn’t try to mix the two,
cause if you do and then you’re still unhappy,
then you know that the problem is you.

Brilliant. And a nice nod to Phair, fellow “Tom Boy.”

In concert, Bettie Serveert stays close to its recorded performances. Many of the songs sound just as I remembered them from when I first encountered this band in the early ’90s. The crowd danced and huddled near to center stage, as the band rocked out number after number. They closed the night with a 2-song encore, ending with perhaps their most well know song, “Kid’s Alright.” Van Dyk said that they played this one for the crowd – and how the crowd loved them.

Set List:

Palomine
Love Lee
Geek
Opal
Deny All
Log 22
Private Suit
The Pharmacy
Semaphore
Mossie
Tom Boy
Receiver
Calling

Encore

Balentine
Kid’s Alright

Posted by | October 23, 2010 | Concerts | Comment 

Concert photos: Bettie Serveert and Salvation at the Duck Room, Friday, October 22

Traveling across the pond to play a run of shows in America, Dutch pop rockers Bettie Serveert stopped in the River City to take the stage at the Duck Room. Easing into their set with a mellow opening song, it didn’t take long for the crowd to start inching closer and closer to the stage so they could soak up their chance to watch a band who doesn’t come through town every week. Not oblivious to this, Bettie Serveert played the numbers that the loyal fan base could recognize and sing along to. Opening the evening was Salvation, a St Louis-based, 3-piece band who just recently started playing out. They stepped on stage, turned up the distortion, let the feedback flow and hammered out their set with pure, raw recklessness.

All photos by Nate Burrell. See more at my Flickr stream.

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Posted by | October 23, 2010 | Concerts, Photos | Comment 

Concert review: Of Montreal melts St. Louisians’ faces off at the Pageant, Thursday, October 21

Meghan McGlynn

What does it mean when a giant, pink pigface freaks a naked-bummed Kevin Barnes donning nothing more than blue boots and gran’s best blouse and lacey apron? And what does it mean when caped, black-and-red, wooden skateboard heads ejaculate three hundred gallons of confetti into a screaming crowd? Or when a 5-headed rainbow dragon gives way to freshly de-cocooned golden butterfly-winged princesses? Or when the swordfish ninjas turn to evil deeds, pointing their shotgun limbs and driving away on all fours the footed-pj-clad skeleton bobble-heads? Or when the pink-feathered black angels dance themselves into oblivion, writhing on the floor until they expire?

I have no idea. But it was awesome.

Thursday night at the Pageant, Of Montreal melted our faces off with 18 songs from The Sunlandic Twins, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer, Skeletal Lamping and their 2010 psychedelic pop funk release, False Priest.

The night’s billing was a perfect recipe of beautiful crazy escalating into full-on freakout mayhem. Vampire-caped Janelle Monae opened, non-ironically rocking multi-era fashion with ‘30s black-and-white wingtips, a ‘40s pompadour and shoulder pads a la ‘80s Prince, dramatically painting a naked bum emblazoned with the word “love” during her set (a theme? well, our faces were melted off…). It was a theme foreshadowing her later duet with Barnes for “Enemy Gene”: “Love breaks the machine…/ there’s zombies licking your window… / ooohhhhh… / what can it mean”? What can it mean, indeed!

“Y’all ready for the GONG?” Yes!

Of Montreal appeared amid a haze of white smoke, three black-and-white anime video screens and four swordfish ninjas. First playing “I Feel Ya’ Strutter,” the band set the tone with lyrics “so freaked out” and “hey, I’m still way erect.” Yes, sexpot freakshow about sums the night up. “It’s all verbosity to me” is how they exited the stage pre-encore… well, perhaps it’s all empty sexual fetishism. Of course, Pitchfork routinely reduces them to “gratuitously syrupy saccharine pop.” Maybe so, maybe so. But I guess I like it sweet. And maybe Pitchfork itself should be reduced to just “pitch.” Hmf.

And regardless of your personal taste, a well-done sexpot freakshow will rock your world. “Let’s have bizarre celebrations,” the band suggests, because then, maybe we’ll “never die.” Oh, yeah. I’m in. And I didn’t even read Twilight. “Let’s all go together / let’s all melt down together”? Yep, sounds all right to me — my face was already melting. “Silly”? “Daffy”? “Oversaturated,” as the Pitchfork dissenters say? Nah, no way. Barnes and his freak brigade take you through nearly 2 hours of insanity, none of it “frivolous.” Insanity is a serious business. “I want this night to distort me.” Hell yes.

Synthesizers, guitars, drums, video shows in triplicate, contortionist gods of all varieties and indie popstar-turned-nightmare granny-turned-towering purple alien lord make us want to “emote ‘til we’re dead,” never mind that we want to live forever in this acid bath. But the music rocks, too; it’s the music that lasts. It’s the pop, it’s the synth, it’s the psychedelic, it’s the electronically-infused, and while it inspires mad, sweaty dancing, it lingers like a beautiful recurring flashback.

Though we were loving this trip, the mid-show ballads were a perfect breather before the next round. A pre-“Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse” pause is AOK… after all, you’re going to need all of your energy for the chemical-induced “moodshift” destined to follow. We’re not in a “crisis” here… nope. “Chemicals… don’t mess me up this time.”

“Dirty old shadow, stay away / don’t play your games with me,” Of Montreal concluded, sending a message to the naysaying pseudo-alt music reviewers, reminding us that synthpopfreakout is not a bad thing at all. We don’t need your negativity… “if you don’t hurt me then you die.” Well, you can’t hurt Of Montreal; in fact, the 3-song Michael Jackson medley encore showed us that if anything, the King(s) of Pop are alive and well.

Dear, sweet Of Montreal — rock on, pop off, freak out, “stay high,” burn the place up and let your booty out. See ya next year in all your chaotic blazing glory. My face is ready.

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Posted by | October 23, 2010 | Music | Comment 

Concert photos: of Montreal and Janelle Monae at the Pageant, Thursday, October 21

All photos by Jon Gitchoff. View more at my Flickr.

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Posted by | October 22, 2010 | Concerts, Photos | Comment 

Concert photos: Los Straitjackets and Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys at Off Broadway, Thursday, October 21

Somehow filling the opening slot of the bill, Los Straitjackets played their style of instrumental surf rock to a room full of swing dancers, greasers, lawyer types, longhairs…and all kinds-a-folks in between. Although often known for their excellent guitar and bass playing, the anchor of the evening was the band’s unbelievably solid drummer. With metronome-like steadiness and the ability to fall right into jaw-dropping fills and solos, Jason Smay laid the foundation for his band to steal the evening’s spotlight.

Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys followed suit and kept the room’s energy at a sweat dripping level. As the dancers shook the shack and the toe-tappers sang along, Big Sandy and the band toasted the tequila drinkers, tossed one back and continued to roll-n-rock.

All photos by Nate Burrell. See more at my Flickr stream.

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Posted by | October 22, 2010 | Concerts, Photos | 1 Comment 

Concert review: The Walkmen rewind and fast forward at Off Broadway, Wednesday, October 20

Photo by Tom Lampe

It isn’t surprising that the Walkmen played to a sold-out audience at Off Broadway last night. The band hasn’t come through St. Louis in years, so they could reasonably expect — with the success of their latest album Lisbon — that their fan base would garner more of a following than their usual garage-rock era fans, or those who tag along because they love to hear “Rat” played live.

For this fan, seeing the Walkmen live was akin to reading a screenplay, developing a mental image of how it should look on-stage, then seeing it performed with all of the gusto and panache of a seasoned theatre troupe. Complete with the drunken swagger and band member camaraderie you can imagine listening to Lisbon, the show came to life notwithstanding a few mishaps and lager-induced stumbles that — in small doses — thrilled the packed room.

Lead singer Hamilton Leithauser owned the place with his unscripted performance, breaking into a grin at the end of each song, taking a swig of his drink, and casually checking on the set list with his band mates as if it was all an impromptu concert in a friend’s basement. Guitarist Paul Maroon missed a few notes during “Victory,” to which Leithauser responded by dropping off on the vocals. The place erupted with whistles and applause as if the crowd just saw their favorite comedian break face briefly mid-routine.

The set list was an appropriate mix of tracks from Lisbon, as well as a few tracks from early albums You & Me, A Hundred Miles Off, and even further into the Walkmen’s back-catalogue. Lisbon was front-loaded in the show, with “Juveniles,” “Angela Surf City,” “Woe Is Me,” “Blue As Your Blood,” and “Victory” kicking it all off. “Victory” showed up surprisingly early in the night for such an anthemic piece that has typically been a massive hit with live audiences. It was surprisingly subdued, and may have enjoyed more energy later in the evening as the show gathered momentum. Otherwise, it was a very well-balanced gig, starting with the retro/surf rock of Lisbon and escalating in energy with the early garage rock hits to the tune of “Thinking of A Dream I Had,” and “In the New Year.”

Some creative swapping on-stage helped shake up the latter third of the performance. Paul Maroon, already deft with a guitar, traded in his six-string to prove his worth on the ivories, while Peter Bauer vacated the keys to try his hand at a quick solo in “We’ve Been Had.” Walter Martin and Matt Barrick maintained their stations at bass and drums respectively as the task managers keeping the group on beat. The guys were really going after it full tilt when they wrapped up 13 songs in. The encore lasted only 3 songs, but energy in the room was at full-capacity when the first notes of “Rat” filled the air. Oddly enough, the guys bid their adieu to St. Louis with the solemn “Another One Goes By.” It was a mellowing end to a powerful show, yet somehow fitting when considering their albums are often high energy music with somber vocals. Either way, the audience’s chants of “We Want More” just before the encore left nothing to the imagination. St. Louis will be eager to greet the Walkmen their next time through town.

Posted by | October 21, 2010 | Concerts | Comment 

Concert photos: Japandroids and the Walkmen at Off Broadway, Wednesday, October 20

All photos by Tom Lampe. See more at my Flickr.

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Posted by | October 21, 2010 | Concerts, Photos | Comment 

Bob Dylan stuck inside of Winston-Salem with the St. Louis blues again

Courtesy of bobdylan.com

One of my best friends, Michael Friedman, sent me the following as an e-mail review of Bobby’s show in Winston-Salem this past Friday. The Dylan show rolls into the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis on October 21; I thought Michael’s missive was a nice preview of the coming attraction.

I don’t know if you are planning on seeing Zimmy this time around, but here is my report from Winston-Salem [October 16 show]:

Pacing is problematic. The show began in an almost incendiary fashion, with a truly jail-break take on “Leopard Skin,” with Bobby bopping like Jerry Lee Lewis and hitting every lyric with existential glee, followed by a gorgeous country-waltz “Don’t Think Twice” and a shockingly coherent/joyous “Stuck Inside Mobile,” with Bob doing his swivel-hip Elvis thing with the guitar…by the time he went back to the keys for “Just Like a Woman” the place was going nuts, and he milked it perfectly, letting the crowd sing on beat and then coming in with his own biting phrase a second or two late.

Alas, then he pulled out the flaccid “Rollin & Tumblin,” which zapped the mojo–it’s just not an interesting song. I will say, though, that on it, & throughout, Charlie Sexton is stunt-doubling for “Last Waltz” era Robbie R–he looks aqualine & angelic sans facial hair, and if his licks are not that “thin wild mercury sound” then I don’t know what  is.

After the lull, however, the old campaigner pulled one out of his ass, not only spitting every word of “Hattie Carroll,” but playing an absolutely gorgeous figure on the harp–i read somewhere, sometime, that the infamous manslaughter occurred at a Spinsters Ball, or that was the theme of the high-society charity dinner anyway, and the melody created during the song was definitely high southern-goth romantic, something out of Poe, which made the story even more devastating.

The rest was ok–”Shelter” was just plain weird, almost Vegas-y, and then there is something happening with his memory: the version of “Tangled” is terrific, with Bob standing center and lecturing the words like an Oxford Don, but he sang a total of 4 verses. He nailed them, but alas, only 1, 2, and the last 2 (i.e, he skipped all the way from the north woods to Montague Street, very, very odd).

On the other hand, he not only sang every line of “Thin Man,” but he didn’t miss a syllable….way weird. “Rolling Stone” was a hoot–Charlie sounding like thunderbolts/Bob’s organ doing a waves-crashing during a Hurricane thing throughout.

Strange, but probably worth it. That’s my take. mf

p.s. I forgot to note the hilarious/sublime new stage trick: they project ghost-faced/b&w images of Bob & his cowboy band on the scrim behind the stage, adding to the whole Tiresius/Land of the Dead vibe that gives the show its Tombstone charm.

Posted by | October 19, 2010 | Concerts | 1 Comment 

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