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12 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
REVIEW
NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 2006
Crowd not lively, deadens concert
The band Ima Robot plays at the Granada Saturday. This Los Angeles-based band was one of the openers for She Wants Revenge.
Dani Hurst/KANSAN
BY DANI HURST
dhurst@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
The She Wants Revenge concert at the Granada, 1020 Massachusetts St., July 8 had potential to be a complete riot, but it wasn't. With three bands whose lead singers screamed naughty words into their mics, whose guitars drove intense bass interludes and near-deafening electric riffs straight to the crowd's ears and whose keyboards pumped insane techno music throughout the entire venue, the potential was there.
So what happened? The audience just didn't give anything back.
It's unclear whether it was the heavy chains on the pants of the concert attendees or the pounds of hair gel used to form perfect blue hair spikes that weighed the crowd down so much, but it was clear that their lack of response affected the whole show. No one moshed, hardly anyone moved until the end of the show, except to visit the merchandise table or to grab a drink at the bar.
Mellowdrone took the stage first. Aside from the practically silent keyboardist/bassist Cami Gutierrez—who, in the rare occasion that you could hear her soft voice, added a subtle touch of softness amid an otherwise rough sound—the band played a loud and moody set of about seven songs, including "Oh My" and "Orange Marmalade," a song lead
singer Jonathon Bates dedicated to all the ladies in the room.
MELLOWDRONE: ★★★
Ima Robot was up next. As the music started, the crowd screamed a little, but it died down shortly thereafter. This band, whose funky beats intermingled with raw and dirty lyrics, was a little more audience-friendly than Mellowdrone, especially when lead singer Alex Ebert screamed, "It's really hot in here," and sprayed the crowd with water. The band became really into their set and at one point drummer Joey Waronker was on his feet pounding the drums while guitarist Tim Anderson was head-banging like it was going out of style. Ebert was all over the stage. He didn't play an instrument, but that just allowed him more freedom to bump into his band mates and convulse on stage. The contagious beats and Bowie-esque vocals of songs like "Dynomite" and "Dirty Life" definitely helped detract from Ebert's strange but permissible get-up, as well as his even stranger mullet hairstyle.
IMA ROBOT: ★★★★
Then She Wants Revenge took the stage shrouded in red lights. They were met with thunderous applause from the audience, and immediately started playing. Here's where the audience went a little crazy, seemingly having saved all of its energy for this band. Lead singer
Justin Warfield, with his deep and throaty voice, had the crowd jumping and screaming by the second song. "Sister." A psychedelic light show of reds, blues and greens played throughout their set, adding just a touch of rock star to the show. When She Wants Revenge played "I Don't Want to Fall in Love," Warfield prompted the crowd to dance along, but by this time the crowd had once again fallen back into its slump. It was only when the band left the stage and the audience had to stomp and scream to get them to come back for an encore that the crowd looked alive again.
SHE WANTS REVENGE: ★★★
Overall, it was a good show as far as the acts. They delivered, but the audience seemed almost hesitant to get too into it. Now that's not to say that the bands couldn't have tried harder to get the audience involved, but it would have made for a more passionate and enjoyable show.
CONCERT OVERALL: ★★★
—Edited by Janiece Gatson