Saw Art Brut Last Night
Art Brut and We Are Scientists played together last night at Neumos here in Seattle. Art Brut had 66.6% more band members, so they were 66.6% better.
(It’s damn difficult to write about the bands without comparing them. Because I put a sobering amount of time into avoiding difficulties, I’ll compare them.)
Outstanding, Art Brut was. The singer is more of a speaker, and it’s how they get their lyrics across, and it works live as well as in the studio.
Between addressing the band like a good leader does — asking things like “Art Brut, are we ready for this next one?” — and fielding questions from the audience, and running up to the under-21 balcony through the crowd, Eddie Argos spoke the lyrics as good as we can ask any lyric speaker to speak.
AB cranked out 12 or 14 delicious numbers, and Seattle got as close as Seattle gets to dancing.
But what about the most important questions… like what did they look like? What are the Brits up to? The rhythm guitarist was straight off the ‘72 Swedish Ski Team bus, the drummer was a happy stand up drummer, and the lead guitarist was as brutally good at his instrument as he was at whipping his hair up into a towering, head-enveloping creation that would have made Ratt members proud.
The bassist was smiling, having a great time, and looking pretty damn hot all at once. She looks kinda dumpy in the previous blog entry’s photo, but trust me on my hotness report.
I forgot all about We Are Scientists after the first several AB numbers. Not that WAS wasn’t good; they’re just three men, and they’re a bit thin live. Not the big 3-man sound of the Reverend Horton Heat, not enough to punch you.
Art Brut was just magnetic. Great show. I’ll see them again.
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[…] Art Brut has already been covered here, and honestly the antics of Eddie Argos have to be seen to be truly understood. He’s magnetic and charming enough that he doesn’t even need to play an instrument, and his band is solid enough that they don’t turn themselves into a joke. They’re not performance art, although they certainly walk the line; they’re just having a really good time. The crowd was also having a really good time, and I found myself worried about the structural integrity of the floor–it was giving under the pressure and we came mighty close to getting a painful look at the basement dressing room. […]