"I gave my heart to rock and roll..."
~The Sounds
At first glance, I thought the lead singer of The Sounds to be another waif-ish rock star, much like William Beckett of The Academy Is... but then I realized that although indeed she is waifish, it’s fully allowed because... well, it’s a she. Bands made of guys with a female lead singer often make me nervous unless they are No Doubt, but The Sounds proved their musical talent as soon as the lead opened her mouth. Hailing all the way from Sweden, the group incorporates tambourine, keyboards, and cowbell into their music, which sounds like Garbage having sex with Shiny Toy Guns on Ecstasy. The hooks are catchy enough that I found myself singing along by the ends of most of the songs, including "Living In America," an anti-US anthem at its finest, throwing my rock fist in the air and hoping the mostly European crowd would not realize what a poser I was. It was clear the lead had overcome the obstacles inherent to being the sole woman in a band of men; she twirled her mic wire like a whip; dangled it from her crotch for a song about being a tease, and very nearly kissed both the (female) backup singer and the (male) keyboardist at different points during their set. AND she didn’t attempt to butcher the French language, so props for that. Between songs like "Bombs Bombs Away" and my favorite, a pretentious band-aid declaration called "Rock and Roll," I found myself wishing I could sing along with their high-energy set by the end of the first song.
Hung it up and dance with me,
B
Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Monday, October 30, 2006
Sit tight, I'm gonna need you to keep time...
"You're a regular decorated emergency!"
~Panic! At The Disco
When I saw Panic! At The Disco last night at a brothel-turned-concert-hall next door to the Moulin Rouge in Paris, France, last night with several hundred other testosterone boys and harlequin girls, I was convinced that I was witnessing the band in the most optimum atmosphere for their post-bohemian-victorian-glam-rock. I was shocked when they opened a few minutes ahead of schedule, which may be normal in France but shocked me. It was clear they are still growing used to their fame and spread of their popularity; when the lead singer, Brendon Urie, opened his mouth to sing the first lines of the opening song, we could not even hear him in the audience because WE were singing so loudly. His face (which had been wearing the expression of a veteran rock star) lit up like a kid on Christmas morning as he realized that, though most of the audience didn’t speak his language as their first one, they still had managed to memorize all their songs, a fact I still don’t completely understand. He wears the robe of a rock star well, dressing in european-style black skinny jeans and a ruffly tux shirt, which he pulled up to reveal a washboard set of abs during "Lying is the Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off," a song about "really hot, really sweaty sex." The band clearly is still having fun with their new fame, and getting to see such a victorian-meets-bohemian-french-euro-hippie style band IN Europe was awfully cool. Props to Halloween concerts and Halloweenly-dressed band members, sexy songs and being the only one in the audience who not only speaks the same language as the band but is also in their age range.
Harlequin Girl,
Blair
~Panic! At The Disco
When I saw Panic! At The Disco last night at a brothel-turned-concert-hall next door to the Moulin Rouge in Paris, France, last night with several hundred other testosterone boys and harlequin girls, I was convinced that I was witnessing the band in the most optimum atmosphere for their post-bohemian-victorian-glam-rock. I was shocked when they opened a few minutes ahead of schedule, which may be normal in France but shocked me. It was clear they are still growing used to their fame and spread of their popularity; when the lead singer, Brendon Urie, opened his mouth to sing the first lines of the opening song, we could not even hear him in the audience because WE were singing so loudly. His face (which had been wearing the expression of a veteran rock star) lit up like a kid on Christmas morning as he realized that, though most of the audience didn’t speak his language as their first one, they still had managed to memorize all their songs, a fact I still don’t completely understand. He wears the robe of a rock star well, dressing in european-style black skinny jeans and a ruffly tux shirt, which he pulled up to reveal a washboard set of abs during "Lying is the Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off," a song about "really hot, really sweaty sex." The band clearly is still having fun with their new fame, and getting to see such a victorian-meets-bohemian-french-euro-hippie style band IN Europe was awfully cool. Props to Halloween concerts and Halloweenly-dressed band members, sexy songs and being the only one in the audience who not only speaks the same language as the band but is also in their age range.
Harlequin Girl,
Blair
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