10 • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MUSIC
THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2003
Crowd lacks passion,show goes on
REVIEW
Sunday night's rock 'n' roll show at the Bottleneck saw the return to Lawrence of Canada's Hot Hot Heat. But despite three great bands, what could have been one of Lawrence's best shows of the season didn't live up to its potential, thanks to a lackluster crowd.
Ad Astra Per Aspera
First on the bill was Lawrence quartet Ad Astra Per Aspera. The band had no discernable style, rather playing a sort of concentrated noise combining elements of indie rock, hardcore and even a bit of jazz. Bassist Scott Edwards spent nearly the entire show with his back turned to the crowd.
Aaron Passman apassman@kansan.com
Vocalist/guitarist Mike Tuley and keyboardist Julie Noyce each spoke briefly to the crowd during their set. Tuley showed off an impressive vocal range, alternating between melodic singing and high pitched shouting, and the songs all frequently changed styles and sounds, giving the band's performance an exciting, spastic feel.
After a short break Conner took to the
Conner
stage and played a brief set of catchy oldschool garage rock. The Lawrence foursome are "your local slacker rock band," as vocalist/guitarist James Duft put it. But, slackers or not, their brand of rock is a damn good one — fast, loud and rawer than a pound of frozen ground beef. Opening up with "Start It Up Right," Conner played a short, tight set, doing its best to get the subdued crowd going. Finally, after a 30-minute set, the band closed with "She Tells No Lies" and then promptly walked off stage.
Hot Hot Heat
By the time headliner Hot Hot Heat came on the venue was nearly full, and most of the crowd seemed ready to rock.
Hot Hot Heat's brand of new-wave tinged garage rock is catchy and hella-danceable and vocalist/guitarist Steve Bays tried hard to get the crowd into it and get people dancing.
"We're a dance band," Bays joked. "That's our gimmick."
While a small contingent of the nearcapacity crowd was more than happy to oblige Bays by dancing, most of the crowd acted in typical Lawrence fashion: occasionally bobbing heads or singing along, but for the most part standing stone-faced and starring stoically forward, seemingly ambivalent about the band on stage.
But Hot Hot Heat didn't seem to notice, and the band attacked their instruments and tore through their 45-minute set as though someone had lit a fire under their collective ass. Band members played a mix of songs both new and old, including tracks from their "Knock Knock Knock" EP and their recent Sub Pop records debut album "Make Up The Breakdown."
Bays is an animal on stage, frequently leaving his keyboard to strut around stage with the mic and stand on the edge of the stage singing directly to audience members. On songs like "Bandages," "This Town" and "Five Times" both Bays and the crowd seemed to be in sync, as the crowd's singing often times almost drowned out Bays' voice, but far too often it seemed that the crowd was a too reserved for such a danceable night.
HOT HOT HEAT ... A
Last Sunday at the Bottleneck with Ad Astra Per Aspera and Conner
Regardless, the band had nothing but good things to say about Lawrence, and Bays said the band's show at the Replay last fall was one of the highlights of that tour. He commented that the crowd seemed in especially high spirits and thanked them for "raising the bar a bit higher."
It's great that band was so pleased with the crowd, but I've seen better crowds in Lawrence. It's too bad such a great show had to be performed before such a seemingly apathetic crowd.
Passman is a Towanda senior in journalism and film
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