I AM OMEGA MAN: Les Savy Fav, The Fillmore, Last Night
First-a-fuckin-all, The Dodos, French Kiss labelmates of Les Savy Fav, put on a killer opening set — in no way were they intimidated by the indie-rock juggernaut they were setting the stage for. Though they only played to a fraction of the crowd LSF would draw, The Dodos banged out every song of their short set as though they were the headliners. Smoke a pack less this week and buy their latest, Visiter, instead. Both your ears and your lungs will thank you. After opening with the filthy garage-esque “The Equestrian” and going immediately into the savagely catchy “Patty Lee,” the Favs owned the TLA Fillmore. Dishing out more hits from both their latest record, Let’s Stay Friends, and their older gems, they didn’t loosen their chokehold once.
In case you haven’t been told, Tim Harrington is moderately insane. Examples: Harrington donning a cape mid-set after ditching his shirt and showcasing a fabulous beer belly; Harrington wishing out loud that the ice cube he was chewing on was made of diamonds; or Harrington jumping in to the crowd with a folding chair only to take a seat in front of yours truly and begin plucking my ankle hairs (no, really).
Not to be outdone by the outlandish antics of Harrington, the rest of the Favs put on as powerful of a performance–albeit with a lot less crowd makeouts or costume changes. Seth Jabour killed each and every riff in LSF’s catalogue, and Harrison Haynes’ drumming was brutal, notably on “Rage In The Plague Age.” Even more amusing was the band’s general ignoring of their frontman’s antics, almost as if there weren’t a man on stage spitting on the front row of fans.Say what you will about the short length of the set–never have I seen such a flawless performance. From eleven until midnight, Tim Harrington and the Brooklyn Bombers reminded the packed TLA Fillmore what live music is supposed to be like: unbelievable, shocking, elating, terrifying, and life-changing–all at once.
TEXT & PHOTO BY MICHAEL DONOVAN
BEACH HOUSE REVIEW AFTER DA JUMP
Top Five Things You Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Beach House Thursday Night At The Barbary
1. Beach House started earlier than most late-for-the-sake-of-late shows in the city, thus allowing them to perform the best from both their self-titled debut and their more recent Devotion. In the case of Beach House, “the best” ended up being “the majority.” A very solid set, indeed.
2. For a two-piece band (with a drummer on tour), Beach House manages to sound infinitely greater than the sum of their parts. The combination of Victoria Legrand’s dreamy voice and organ playing with Alex Scally’s backup vocals and guitar masterwork produce a sound larger than many bands three times as large.
3. Beach house killed on their debut’s hit “Master of None.” Legrand’s already-beautiful vocals managed to find the small area between awesomely-scratchy and emphysema-scratchy and nail it. Definitely the song of the night.
4. Matching white suits and dresses with gold trim. ‘Nuff said.
5. As the show wound down, Legrand paused to say hello to her mother, father, and sister, who were all in attendance. “I love my family,” she giggled, before heading in to one of the final songs. If not for the fact that Philly’s finest scenesters had street cred to uphold, the ensuing “awwwww”s would have been much, much louder.
TEXT & PHOTO BY MICHAEL DONOVAN