NO AGE NO AGE NO AGE. Watching their set at SFBH on Tuesday, one couldn’t help but wonder what it must be like to see these two play at their home venue The Smell in L.A. Suffice to say we only caught a fraction of the atmosphere they produce amongst hometown fans, but it was still enough to be a phenomenal show. Blasting into Teen Creeps, the set borrowed heavily from both Weirdo Rippers and Nouns, neither of which’s material was done injustice. Switching pedals like a maniac, Randy Randall threw himself and his ragged mop of hair around the stage, while Dean Spunt (sporting a Mika Miko tshirt – <3 LA bandlove) drummed and sang. As expected, they were totally tight, save for a brief mixup mid-Neck Escaper. For a band who give initial impressions of straight-out punk on a lot of their album tracks, one of the best things about their show was the pop tendencies they exhibited. Ironically, Everybodys Down was a blissful romp, with the 150-strong crowd yelling along. The guitar lines at the end of My Lifes Alright without you were as poppy as ever, and the almost cathartic Miner faded out as dreamily as it blasted in. Basically, if you had any expectations of No Age, whether you liked their pop melodies or noisy style, they fulfilled them. Now someone fly me to LA.
Where No Age showcased their hazy pop tendencies, Jay Reatard pushed the other end of the spectrum. With he and his bassist armed with V-neck guitars, they struck the biggest hair-metal poses this side of Iron Maiden. A little weird, given the 3 minute time limit Jay seems to put on all his songs – hair metal aesthetic, punk sound? Going through the trademark motions of tearing through one track, screaming out the name of the next one and then ripping into it, he played fast and hard. The tracks off Blood Visions were easily the standouts, given the pulverising energy he put into the performance. Where it fell off a bit was in his more recent tracks – the kiwipop influence that has been his step out of the punk mould didn’t rear its head in the live show, which meant his pop-styled songs got brutalised by the sheer volume of his punk performance. Proving that spontaneous energy is always going to be a relevant part of music everywhere, these two bands provided an education in noise and melody. And despite the meagre crowd turnout there was more than enough energy from both crowd and performers to make this the best
Tuesday in awhile.
PROMOTERS PLEASE STOP DOUBLE BOOKING DATES FOR SHOWS.
James Beavis
