Review: Black Lips @ Electric Ballroom
On another highly anticipated tour of the UK, Black Lips returned to show us their new album 200 Million Thousand, in addition to some old favourites. The biggest surprise of the night is that it wasn't a sell-out show at the Electric Ballroom, not that it mattered much. As the band took to the stage at 9.30, an air of excited expectancy buzzed throughout the venue.
Making the most of every moment, they kicked things off with the raw, fast paced Sea Of Blasphemy giving us a taste of what was to come before going straight into Drugs and Short Fuse showing us some of their new material. For a band whose live reputation includes stories of pissing on stage, making out with each other and generally getting naked you could always run a risk of the music getting lost in the mix. With Black Lips this never seemed to be an issue; the raw pace, power and overall energy of their live show ensured that no one noticed that no clothes were removed, bodily fluids released or that the guys kept their mouths to themselves and the mic.
The only aspect of the night that grew any frustration was the seemingly incompetent man doing the lighting; Black Lips send the audience and themselves to a time reminiscent of the 60s, complete with oil projections, some optikinetics lighting and worm effects. Unfortunately on more than one occasion, and particularly on Buried Alive, the lighting guy got it very wrong; making a big difference to the overall effectiveness of the songs and Cole Alexander could be seen to be growing ever more irritated with the inept 'professional'.
That said, it was the only thing that detracted from a great, enthralling performance; which included guitarist Ian Saint Pé climbing the speaker system and sitting crossed legged at the top and drummer Joe Bradley whipping his sticks at anyone attempting to reorganise his kit during a song. The only quiet moment of the night was the announcement of I'll Be With You, complete with the meaning behind the record ⓠa tribute to a friend of theirs who's dying. The fast paced, punk edged O Katrina! threatened to bring the roof down, whilst the bouncy Bad Kids left the audience jovially swinging their heads from side to side.
The show had everything you could want in a time when a lot of bands tend to be reserved on-stage; even without too many of their well known antics the gig felt more like The Who or the 13th Floor Elevators in their heyday than anything I've seen in a long time.
- For more information on Black Lips, visit their MySpace page.
- You can see our recent interview with Black Lips Here.
Photo taken from Parttimemusic's Flickr.
