notes

The KLF - The White Room - Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012
The Orb Saved My Life - Monday, Sept. 10, 2012
Fire On Babylon - Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012
N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton - Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012
the flaming lips and heady fwends or, the freaks are slowly taking over - Thursday, Jul. 19, 2012

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Monday, Aug. 04, 2003 | 21:52

dirty sticky floors

well, nikki was signed up to promote the dave gahan show at the aragon, and she not only got on the guest list but also landed a +1, so she took me.

we got there about 7 to hand out fliers, and learned the other promoters had already come and gone. still, we ran out of fliers before the show started. i even got a poster for the opening act, kenna, simply because it looked cool. a flaming bull on one side, a cool design on the other.

and then we went in.

the aragon ballroom is a nice-looking place. it looks like it should be a morrocan restaurant, or at least spanish. i bet you could have an awesome wedding reception there. we tried to avoid the beer some of the wankers who were just there to drink spilled, but events in the night got us splattered anyway.

the opener, kenna, was awesome. it was a drummer, two keyboardists (with those keyboard-guitar thingies too), and a skinny black man singing. i thought one of the keyboard players should be female, if only for backing vocals duties, but also to add a little more sexiness to the set. not that the singer wasn't sexy, with his fluid dancing that resembled the stoner waltz but was way cooler. he just kind of let his body move, and it went naturally with the music. he'd step around the stage a little, mic in hand, stand on monitors and the like. and he could sing. man could he sing.

kenna is a rock band, but with the dirty keyboards rather than guitars. there was an actual bass at one point, but the best was when the two keyboard-guitars came center and the guys twiddled each other's nobs. rock on.

(some one was trying to figure out kenna's nationality, and decided he was british because he had an accent and was opening for dave gahan. turns out he was born in ethiopia but raised in virginia beach. oddly, kenna is on flawless, fred durst's label with columbia. weird. and allmusic.com says it's frighteningly pop, not the kind of stuff you'd play for your friends, but instead hide as a guilty pleasure somewhere behind your other flawless albums like big dumb face and puddle of mudd.)

then, after a break to change instruments, came dave gahan.

have you heard his new album? i haven't. i've heard one song, and it was ok, but ultimately it's mediocre rock with synths and decent lyrics--a sub-songs of faith and devotion album. at least, that's what i assume based on the show, though sometimes live is better than the studio.

dave can sing, there's no doubt about that. sobriety has not hurt his voice, or his manic stage presence--the shirt was off in the second song and his maroon pants were dark purple with sweat before i left (during the last regular song, due to scheduling conflicts). he spun, he pranced, he liked to spread his arms crucifix-style, and he exhorted the crowd to sing along in almost all the rockers.

the first time he shouted "sing it!" nikki looked at me and asked how many of the people there knew the words (though there were some gothy types and 30-year-olds who looked like they got into depeche mode with violator, there were also many normal-looking people who, it appeared, were there just for a show, and would have come regardless of who played). it turned out, most of them knew the words. that was kind of cool.

then, the third song was one everyone knew: a question of time. the depeche mode songs were better than any of gahan's solo tunes, but the band made everything sound like similar mediocre rock-with-synths. the first slow song reminded me of some shot i saw of this late 80s/early 90s band playing, with big blue and black shadows on the screen behind them. some british shoegazer group, probably.

the middle of the set was laden with slow songs, and since my attention was wandering anyway i really felt the night drag. however, it was worth watching some of the freaks in the crowd. like the stoner/death metal guy (actually, he looked like he could be in sepultura, except he was too short) jamming along to every note. he was grabbing the air, jumping around, flailing his waist-length dreads. it was a sight to behold, and not at all in keeping with the rest of the people at the show.

however, the music blurred together, with only the depeche mode songs (walking in my shoes, waiting for the night) to break the monotony, and when another slow song started i decided it was late and since i had to get up early the next day i should go. from the l stop outside i could hear that song end, and the cheers, and dave gahan say good night. i don't know if he did an encore. that might have been the best part, but i really wasn't interested in staying anymore.

so buy kenna - new sacred cow to put next to your depeche mode (he has a song that sounds like classic duran duran even) and don't pay to see dave gahan unless you know all the words or you're some heavy metal nutjob with a severe identity crisis.

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