Sunday, August 8, 2010

New Shows: Gogol Bordello, Murder City Devils, The Sword, Bad Religion

Gogol Bordello

One of the liveliest crowds I've seen at the Roseland. Everyone was dancing or jumping, including the back of the venue, and the balcony. I spend very little time listening to this band on album, but their live shows are too much fun to miss. More bands need cheerleaders.

Roseland Theater, Portland
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
$23.50
Tickets on sale Wednesday, August 11th at 10:00 a.m.

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Murder City Devils

I wrote this about the Murder City Devils Sasquatch! show last year:

Short Version: The lead singer turned the set into a rant against frat boys who bash gays.

Long Version: Spencer Moody came out early without the band, and proceeded to tell a story about his first Lollapalooza experience when he was a kid going to see Jane's Addiction. He sounded very nervous, and apologized for not being a great speaker in front of crowds. I had never seen the Devils before, so I didn't know who he was. He looked more like a roadie than a rock star, and acted the part.

There were many frat boys there, since TV on the Radio and NIN followed, and I heard a couple people make drunken cracks about gays. It was very quiet after all, and I got the feeling he was working the crowd to see what came up, because the story was mostly boring, even if a little endearing.

Then the band comes out, and he starts screaming and jumping around like a madman. Nice intro.

His first chance to address the crowd was epic, he went off for at least two minutes calling the crowd every name imaginable. Paraphrasing here, "all you assholes can fucking leave the festival, jump in the car your parents bought you, and eat a big fat bag of dicks."

Then he used the term "faggot," repeatedly, to the point that I thought he was calling the crowd "faggots." Again paraphrasing after another rant, "this next song is for all the beautiful faggots, who are just like us."

After he declared his war, he grabbed the guitar player and made out with him during a couple songs, grabbed a (straight) fan in the front row, and made out with him, then wandered around screaming and falling down like a drunken madman, yet still sounded coherent. He picked up a VIP dude on the side of the stage, and walked him out to the middle of the stage holding him like a baby, only falling down once on the way. The only time I thought it got a bit out of hand was when he grabbed a female cameraperson's head, and rubbed it in his crotch for 10 seconds, and mildly shoving another female cameraperson later. I was thinking there might be some fall back from those two acts.

One of the coolest parts for me was when he first started screaming the word "faggot", a bearded man with a blonde wig, a tutu, and a tank top reading "I'm a Slut" passed by on the shoulders of another man. Good stuff.

Another rant had him saying all the faggots had beautiful cocks, and telling all the ladies with beautiful vaginas, to watch out for the frat boy fuckers, and not let them touch their beautiful vaginas.

Toward the end of the show, each time he started a new rant, the band started playing a song instead, to which he quickly turned back into a singer. At the end of the show, he went back to the mic, but they cut it off. He then jumped into the crowd never to be seen again.

I had never seen this band before live, but I am a big fan now. It was uncomfortable, there were people leaving in disgust, he was falling down every which way, and I can't believe he didn't hurt anyone with his antics, including swinging the mic stand around on stage several times. He was a lunatic, yet if it wasn't for the situation with the two female camerapeople, I might have guessed he was sober, with maybe a case of vertigo.

Roseland Theater, Portland
Friday, October 15th, 2010
$20

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The Sword

I've been looking forward to catching this metal band for a couple years. I hear they put on a great show.

Roseland Theater, Portland
Sunday, October 3rd, 2010
$16

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Bad Religion

Their manager is a cool cat. I can't say the same about guitar player Brian Baker.

Roseland Theater, Portland
Monday, November 15th
$22.50
Tickets on sale Saturday, August 14th at 10:00 a.m.

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