Tuesday night at the new Brighton Music Hall was confusing, to say the least. It was the first night of a tour for Starfucker and Champagne Champagne, who would be driving back to the West Coast together throughout the coming month.
The night kicked off with opener Walk the Moon, a self-described “indie pop fiesta” band from Cincinnati. The foursome brought the energy and sunshine from beat one, and carried on for half an hour of pure joy and dance. Traditionally, I dislike opener bands. They’re super-low-fi and don’t have a cohesive sound. However, I could easily see Walk the Moon headlining to a sold out crowd. Their sound was solid, and they had an infectious energy I have only heard in the best of The Strokes.
“We didn’t write this song, but David Bowie did!” was the intro to “Let’s Dance.” The cover fit in the hyper-energized dance party and went well with Walk The Moon’s Bowie-esque painted faces. It also explained why there was face paint circulating in the audience.
Walk the Moon mostly played tracks from their debut album i want! i want!, which can be bought through Walk the Moon’s bandcamp for nine dollars. The songs “Anna Sun,” “Lisa Baby”, and “Quesadilla” stood out as my favorites, but the songs were all pretty great.
Next up was Champagne Champagne, a punk-rap-shoegaze threesome from Seattle comprised of MCs Pearl Dragon and Sir Thomas Gray and a DJ that not only sported a Mac, but also a guitar, a tambourine, and a killer electric drum.
The combination of electronic, electric, and at times beautiful lyrics moved the music away from pop-rap to something groovy and personal. The two MCs were constantly leaning into the audience, imploring us to “come closer. Come closer to me.”
My favorite song was “Molly Ringwald” which combined all the best moments of her movies with John Hughes. “Now she has tattoos, wears Ducky-type shoes/hangs out with punk rock dudes.”
The duo also managed to slip the word “champagne” into all of their songs and had the audience echo back “Champagne Champagne!” between each song. They ended their set with a song dedicated to Starfucker. I hope they record and release it for pure comic relief.
Before Starfucker took the stage, the anticipation was tangible. The show was sold out and everyone was sufficiently amped up. The lights went dim. The band walked on. The Steve Martin vinyl was prepped–and then the mic didn’t work.
After the first song, the mic was fixed and the lights went down completely. Brighton Music Hall was alight with hundreds of red, blue and green pinpoint lasers shooting from both sides of the stage. The rave-like setting got the crowd sufficiently jazzed. Everyone was dancing like crazy for the first few songs, which included favorites like “Astoria” and “Buried Us Alive.” There was head-banging a plenty, but the energy of the openers was long gone. There was no connection with the band, no feedback for the audience’s enthusiasm.
“Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second” and “Hungry Ghost” came after. Josh Hodges coyly applyied chapstick between lyrics. Unfortunately, the only truly awe-inspireing moment was during “Mona Vegas” when Josh Hodges, Ryan Biornstad, and Shawn Glassford all stood perfectly still at their setups and just sang.
After a lyric-less psychedelic interlude, the set fell apart. None of the band mates knew what else to play. They couldn’t read their setlist. They shouted out “what do you guys wanna hear?” but played “Let Us In,” “Boy Toy,” “Millions,” and “Quality Time.” These are all awesome tracks, but the band played them without enthusiasm.
The crowd thinned during that second half, and the encore cheers were few and far between outside of the obligatory extended clapping. It was only when they came back on stage that things started to get interesting.
The first song of the encore was a stoic (stoic!) cover of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” The first minute was fun, but the rest was just stale.
During “Dance Face 2000” Starfucker exploded. The lead singer grooved to the music with moves that would have put Thom Yorke in Lotus Flower to shame and danced with the crowd. Starfucker ended the encore with a screaming ode to Champagne Champagne. Hodges climbed up and swung from the rafters and crowd-surfed.
But that last burst of energy came much too late. The amount of people actually dancing in the end was about three rows deep at the stage and a few clusters dispersed throughout the venue.
After seeing such awesome opening bands and knowing Starfucker’s reputation for stellar shows, I expected the headliner to be astronomical, not lackluster. This is not to say the music was bad – it was great. The openers just put on better shows.
All three bands produce some stellar music, which should be downloaded immediately. Maybe have a dance party of your own. In your living room, perhaps, with some face paint and Champagne (Champagne).
