Violent Femmes jam for all ages
Published Sept. 26, 2006
When the doors opened, the line of people bent around the corner, curled along the sidewall that flaunted graffiti and through an alley until it reached the adjacent street.
What made the line interesting to observe was not the path or form it had assumed but because it was peppered with people of every generation and social persuasion.
The Violent Femmes have been around for a long time, and everyone, young and old, attended this show. Despite the fact that the masses of people who had once occupied that line were now moving inside, it was cold and not a suitable place to wear a T-shirt, as I soon realized. The cigarettes that inevitably lit up like broken Christmas tree lights flared up every now and again, showing faces behind them in the stimulating yellow glow, but they didn't do much for warmth.
Before the opening band, Miracles of God, there was no lack of entertainment. The stereotypical "that guy" held one bottle of beer, one cup of beer and one pitcher of beer, which, by my count, was filled up four or five times during the course of the evening and probably spilled just as often.
The stage itself held a gong, stacks of electronics and a rack of guitars among other basic music equipment and gradually accumulated more as the opening band came out to tune.
Miracles of God did not provide much to look at when it came to the front of the stage. The quartet didn't appear to be the type of band that would tour with the Femmes, but that impression changed once the lead singer's mouth opened.
On just about all of the songs the band played, there was a harmony between two or among all three of the vocalists. Although the band didn't say much, it had an incredible stage presence and was a genuinely rocking band. The raw whining voice of the lead vocalist complemented by the very heavy rock sound quickly excited the crowd.
The band got the crowd so riled up that a mosh pit formed a couple of times, and The Blue Note's bouncer charged in to stop it. Later, Greg Linde from the Columbia band Witch's Hat was invited to the stage and provided vocals and a steady tambourine beat.
At exactly 10:15 p.m., the Femmes took the stage.
The set began with the crash of the gong that stood unused until this point in the show, and the instrument's vibrations set off a wave of infectious energy that rushed through the audience.
The Femmes began the first song, "Hey Nonny Nonny," with a brief jam, bringing all those waiting to play in the show onto the stage, making so much sound that it was altogether incredible.
The band played every crowd favorite that they could, along with a couple of lesser-known songs (something noticeable based on how much singing came from the crowd). But regardless of the song, each was saturated with an incredible energy — in part because it was live, in part because the band was so into its music.
On "Mirror Mirror (I See a Damsel)," from the album New Times, the tempo of the song gradually picked up and made the audience crazy. But a mandolin solo that followed the basic line made the show different.
"Black Girls" set an atmosphere of a jam session throughout the song, as improvisations followed the regular tune and eventually culminated in what seemed to be an improvised drum battle.
Throughout the show, Brian Ritchie, the band's bassist, threw a number of picks into the audience, eliciting a response from the audience similar to that of swarming piranha.
The Violent Femmes put on an incredible show, and it sure as hell showed at their Saturday performance.