Thursday, October 26, 2006

New York Dolls, Liverpool Academy, 25/10/06

"When I say I'm in love you better believe I'm in love L-U-V" is a pretty grand opening lyric for a legendry band and sets a challenging high standard for the rest of the set. But they provide a skillful blend of the classics we want to hear and the new songs that we should have heard.


Songs from the last album "One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This" come across as both electric and emotionally charged. "Dancing on the Lip of a Volcano", "Fishnets & Cigarettes" and "Plenty of Music" show that The Dolls timed their comeback well, returning with first rate material as opposed to a lame duck. "Dance Like A Monkey" is perhaps the best known new songs thanks to their performance on The Jonathan Ross Show, the monkey sound effects make it come alive.


Along with the new material we where treated to some covers, Janis Joplin's "Take Another Piece of my Heart", Johnny Thunders "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory", and from the first Dolls album, Bo Diddleys "Pills".



Original member David Johansan and Sylvian Sylvain are clearly happy to be back in the limelight, lots of "Thank you Liverpool!" shouts and banter. Johnsan still moves like no one of his age should be able to, especially someone who looks like a Steve Tyler / Mick Jagger love child. Along with his all too revealing and tight trousers, its easy to understand how little effort it took to anthomorphisize them into monkey for the "Dance Like A Monkey" video.



As the set rolls on the sound gets larger, with epic renditions of "Trash" & "Jet Boy" closing the main set, and the encore starting with the essential "Personality Crisis". It was a daring move to follow such stone cold classics with a new song but set closer "Gotta Get Away From Tommy" proves that the strength of the new material.

The only problem with the set was the lack of any rollicking piano action, although some nifty harmonic void helps fill this gap. Towers of London where a dreadful support act and looked like, and have the musical credibility of Busted. Less said about them the better. Seriously. I have no comprehension of why the venue failed to sell out, so rarely does such a significant band come through Liverpool. At least I can rest safe in the knowledge that the people who passed on this oppertunity, staying home to lick a goats balls or something, missed the best gig in Liverpool for a very long time.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Blixa Bargled, Preston Charter Theater, 21/10/06

When seeing Blixa Bargeld the only thing you can be sure of is his bad haircut, the rest of the night is impossible to predict. This point was demonstrated by support band Theybreakinpiece, playing a steel cello and a metal birdbath, these most Neubauten influences make them a clear choice of support act. While an interesting opening act, I doubt I'll rush out to by their CD.

Blixa himself took to the stage armed only with amps and footpedels, through which he recorded live loops to produce noise, songs and science lectures. We got detailed notes on the make up of the solar system, asteroid belts, moons and all, with planet names spaced across the loop to reflect their real distance from the sun (Neptune and of course, Pluto, excluded). Next we got some up to date information on cloning and some sample based gene splicing experiments. Very informative stuff.

Perhaps the most unexpected part of the evening was just how funny it all seemed. Maybe it was the atmosphere of a pseudo scientific entertainment we had tickets for, or maybe the fact that in his suit and waistcoat Herr Bargeld looked just slightly Chaplinesque. I'm far more convinced however its the accent, as German comedy is a deadly tool in the right hands. Him simply reading the list of shooters available from Baa Baa had everybody in stitches, but only because of the accent, I'm sure.

My favourite piece was about listening to radio on the Autobahn. It covered quintessential parts of German culture, such as radio stations playing endless English music and unlimited speed limits.

It was sad to see how empty the theater was, but then, he had chosen to stay in Preston. Transport back just to Liverpool was problematic, but had people known it finished for half ten, meaning trains to Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool where still running, perhaps more people would have attended. The real draw however, which I feel I should stress in case the show plays by you in the near future, is that its far more entertaining that it all sounds. Its not all droning samples, screeching noises and human beatboxing, the interludes and descriptions make the time fly and it seemed everyone leaving looked and sounded as if they had enjoyed this pseudo scientific experiment in entertainment.

The Rede/Speech is available to buy from Neubauten.org (However, it is in German) and you can watch the trailer here.

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