mardi 11 Nov 2008, 15h41m

Mon 10 Nov – The King Khan & BBQ Show

Before someone reads this expecting a review of King Kahn & BBQ: I left half way into their second song. I went to go see The Dutchess and the Duke and thought King Kahn/BBQ would be interesting… except that they aren't. They're just fuckin' weird, and not in a funny way. More like an inside joke that I couldn't really care much about actually being inside of. No fun!

God bless The Flash Express for existing. They're one of those things that is hard to write about without sounding like you're insulting them: a group of middle-aged dudes trying to rock like it's the… 70's, or something. I'm not sure. The singer had so much energy and compassion and he was dancing around like Mike Jagger and practically crawling on the audience at one point (rubbing the tip of his guitar on some random guy's head while singing "Sneak Around", probably one of the most embarrassingly awkward performances of music I have ever seen, right up there with some of the best moments from The Office). Their music was heavy, vibrant, and mostly nonsensical, but excellent in that campy sort of "inside joke that I immediately get" sort of way. God bless them for existing, really.

The Dutchess and the Duke were, most tellingly about the crowd they were surrounded by, were booed during their last song by one drunk heckler standing by me, but I couldn't isolate who it was so I could knee them in the balls. Admittedly, D&D play a very mellow… very very mellow… mix of 60's folky-rock sounding stuff that is GREAT to fall asleep to, but not great to build up a rock-show ambiance. How they got sandwiched between two bands who ape 70's rock so heavily is beyond me, because they were entirely out of place.

But: they were great. The Dutchess is cute in a sort of Sweet Dee (from "It's Always Sunny") but not all anorexically gross looking, and The Duke looks like a thinner Kevin Smith, and their percussion guy looks like a twiggy John Lennon. They fit their sound awesomely and they were fantastic (just like their album, really, so there's not much to say here). I am glad I decided to see them and if I had a choice I would have the $24 I paid for both tickets go directly to them.

Good job guys, thanks for playing when you were so obviously out of place.