| Triple Shot: Three Nights of Great Music |
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| Written by Mark Rifkin | |
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 LCD Soundsystem lights up the old Ritz at end of tour  Arctic Monkeys light up the night at the Hammerstein  Be Your Own Pet romps onstage opening for Arctic Monkeys  !!! plays fast and loose at the Bowery Ballroom With Pat Mahoney crouching on drums to Murphy’s left at the front of the stage, Nancy Whang on keyboards front and center, and Al Doyle (filling in on this tour from his regular gig with Hot Chip) on guitar, LCD started a spine-tingling house-party explosion buildup near the end of “Time to Get Away,” achieving near total sonic dance lift-off right in the middle of “North American Scum,” and totally blowing it up during “All My Friends.” LCD lit up the place on “Get Innocuous!” with Whang whanging on the piano, then flowing into a glorious “Tribulations” and a massive “Yeah.” Murphy, who adds percussion of his own when the feeling hits him (including cowbell!), bounced water bottles off Mahoney’s kit during one of the encores, “Watch the Tapes,” before pouring water all over the cymbals, making for a cool, sparkly display that didn’t seem to bother the stalwart drummer. LCD Soundsystem’s smart lyrics and booty-shaking beats combined for one hell of an end-of-tour celebration, finishing up with the good-natured “New York, I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down,” which was also a farewell to Doyle, who concluded things with a fuzzy feedback solo. Even opener Jona Bechtolt, aka Yacht, who really needs to spend more time in his mother’s basement in Oregon perfecting his silly act, couldn’t bring this shining night down. Approaching the end of their U.S. tour in support of their fine second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, Sheffield’s Arctic Monkeys put on a solid if unspectacular show at the Hammerstein Ballroom on May 15th, enhanced by a frenetic light display. The Monkeys featured most of the songs from their new CD, including “Brianstorm,” “Balaclava,” “Fluorescent Adolescent,” and a fierce “This House Is a Circus,” as well as several tunes from their smash 2006 debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, kicking it out with “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor,” “Fake Tales of San Francisco,” “Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured,” and “When the Sun Goes Down,” paying lyrical tribute to Duran Duran and the Police and musical tribute to countless other 1980s bands. Lead singer and guitarist Alex Turner led the way, stopping only to share vocals with drummer Matt Helder on “You Probably Couldn’t See for the Lights But You Were Looking Straight at Me” and “D Is for Dangerous.” Turner chatted amiably with the crowd several times, not only praising New York City but pointing out that the lower balcony seemed to be bored while the upper balcony was partying. Well, the Monkeys shouldn’t blame us—we experienced just about the worst security detail we have ever encountered at a concert, with rude security guards not allowing anyone to stand up and dance in our section, even in our own seats. You know things had to be bad if the band noticed it. Be Your Own Pet, made up of four teenagers from Nashville, opened the show with a fast-paced set of retro-punk, slamming their way through “Bicycle, Bicycle,” “Adventure,” “Black Hole,” “Wildcat!” and other two-minute anthems with reckless abandon—and, occasionally, a tall, skinny dude named Max. Lead singer Jemima shook her platinum blonde hair, bassist Nathan beat up Jamin’s drum kit, and guitarist Jonas let the riffs fly to an appreciative audience. The nine members of !!! (pronounced “Chk Chk Chk,” among other triple variations) tore apart the Bowery Ballroom on May 16 with their infectious brand of nonstop dance punk. Frontman Nic Offer never stopped moving, channeling a breathtaking repertoire of ’70s disco moves extraordinaire. Offer is near impossible to catch standing still, as was the crowd—sweat, water bottles, arms, legs, heads, and hair kept flying through the entire 75-minute set, built around the group’s cool new release, Myth Takes. The band channeled a raucous mix of funk and rock, and they played it loose, loud, and plenty wild. Toronto’s Holy F*ck opened the show with 35 minutes of electronica-type dance music without electronics, using instead an ocarina, a 35mm film sequencer, and some really cheesy keyboards, along with drums and guitars, sending out lots of twitchy dance stuff and crazy beats. This was one exhilarating, exhausting night of great music, an appropriate end to three awesome nights of cutting-edge music in New York—and that was only to start the week. - - -All contents copyright 2007 by Mark Rifkin and twi-ny. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reprinted without written permission. For more on what’s going on this week in New York, visit twi-ny.com. |
