Email to a Friend

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Live DC: Editors / Louis XIV / Hot Hot Heat @ 930 Club

January 17, 2008 by Svetlana

all photos:Ryan Wakeman

Now, now…I have reviewed my fair share of triple threat shows, but usually there is some kind of a common thread rolling through it: be it girls with who handle their instruments better than you, rollicking rock or triple threat triplets or whatever it is that I executively decide holds the show together.
This Tuesday though, while all three bands deserved merit (some lesser, some GREATER, GREATEST merit) I could not help but play “musical line ups” during the show, as the Editors assembled, shall I say, a somewhat unedited tour (puns always intended as you know) and here is what I mean.
Band by band.
As you like it.

But first things first: we sampled the paninis. and they were good.
Ok, now the show. First up:

Louis XIV

The show itself was sold out and there was actually plenty of people there for the first act. Which was Louis XIV. Which I always feel like I should not let myself like, but somehow do. Actually, let me correct that: I somehow do enjoy their older “lets all get drunk, and have orgies, and your little Asian friend can come too” songs. It has a good beat, they seem like they both mean it seriously enough and not seriously at all, Jason is quite the strutter, guyliner overload and all, and its a down and dirty good time. Even at 8:15 pm.
Which is saying something.
They played “Air Traffic Control”, one of their new, more ambitious songs too, and while I adore ELO and David Bowie I cannot quite get on board with somewhat blatant rip offs. It was Major Tom all over again, and I sort of don’t think it can be done better than it was the first time around. And we should all be able to deal with that.
Bonus: Brian Karscig whom Peter interviewed on Tuesday has the most amazing vocal track on “Finding out True Love is Blind”. He should sing more.

Hot Hot Heat

Next up was Hot Hot Heat. Which in my show planning mind should have been Art Brut as they and Louis XIV BELONG TOGETHER. FOREVER.
But no.
There are somewhat disparate opinions on Hot Hot Heat here at BYT (namely, Cale hates them, and I think they’re pretty OK and do have a song or two or 6 of theirs on my tortured ipod) but any which way you turn it, Hot Hot Heat is basically a one man show:its all about Steve Bays. Who quite possibly, is not human, or at least his voice isn’t. A bundle of energy (and hair), he jumps, falls, emotes and does everything short of cartwheels and, you know what, kids seem to love it. Me, every time I see them, I just wish I was watching Elvis Costello in the 1980s because that is how this type of music IS REALLY SUPPOSED TO LOOK AND SOUND LIKE. But A for Effort.

and then, as the place got P.A.C.K.E.D. to the gills, it was time for:

Editors

I have never seen Editors live before.
I wasn’t sure I even wanted to.
And from now on, I will always want to see Editors live.

That pretty much sums it up.

I should also add that Becca and I would like Tom Smith to marry us. We’d even be willing to share. We could all hang out and he can climb pianos and play two instruments simultaneously all day and we can just watch.

But seriously,
even if you are not a huge Editors fan, their live show is AMAZING.
A must see.
I think William used the word “cathartic” once, and, amazingly, it is quite an accurate description.
Nothing about the previous two bands (who, lets face it, do depend on style over substance a little too much) prepares you for it.
It is soaring, searing, and cuts through you like a knife. Very rarely do you see a live show that makes you a convert and this is it.
I’ll admit, I’ve always felt their albums are too moody, too grandiose for their own good, almost old-fashioned in their Joy Divisiony aspirations but boy, oh, boy they make up for it on stage. And mainly because it all does come off as genuine.
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll maybe suffer from epileptic shock from all the (very beautifully designed, mind you) laser beams jutting around their heads, but no matter what, you’ll walk away wanting more.
Now, can we just please have someone as heartbreaking as, say, St. Vincent open for them, and you’ve got yourself a winner and a tearjerker to boot.

Then after the show, we saved Ryan from the photography front lines, went to DC9, drank some diet cokes and watched videos of the bands while the bands hung out at the bar. It was almost meta. Almost.

Email to a Friend

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•