Yeah Yeah Yeahs-Atlanta GA, Tabernacle 10/14/06Oct 15 '06 (Updated Mar 18 '09) Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line With a couple of decent opening acts & a yellow-purple leotard, the YYYs have managed to hypnotize and won the city of Atlanta once again. Three years since seeing the NYC post-punk band the Yeah Yeah Yeahs back in November 2003 at the small Echo Lounge club, things definitely changed. The band got more exposure thanks to the single for Maps off of their 2003 album Fever to Tell was a radio hit in 2004. The band then took a break where they went ahead and retooled their sound for 2006's brilliant Show Your Bones. While it's album that I haven't reviewed yet although it's more complex than their debut. Still, it's one I listen to every now and then while the videos the band has put out reveal their independence from other videos that artists are making. Now we come to the band live at the Tabernacle on 10/14/06 with live multi-instrumentalist Imaad Wasif. Arriving at around 7:30 PM in downtown Atlanta, the venue is like a big club with couple of floors on top for the audience to sit and watch while also included sitting rooms for people to relax. I arrived on the floor where the band plus two opening acts would play. One of the good things about going to the show was that I saw someone I know who was also a patron at the now-defunct Disc-Go Round. We talked about what happened and I'm still in shock. He manage to go to a lot of shows recently while doing some hiking which was about to do the next day. We talked about the death of Disc-Go Round and also the bankruptcy of Tower Records and movies. He also discussed attending an acoustic show in Little Five Points at Criminal Records where the band played a four-song set that included Gold Lion, Turn Into, Maps, and a cover of a Bjork song that he doesn't know. That acoustic show I heard about was something the band was going to do a few days before after reading the NME where they also held a contest on people dressing up like the band. In the show I went to, there were a lot of Karen O look-a-likes. Around 8 PM, the first opening act arrived in the YYYs' live multi-instrumentalist Imaad Wasif. While the show was mostly haunting, acoustic set with reverbs as the guy kind a looked and sounded like Jim Reid of the Jesus & Mary Chain which my cohort says he sounds like. Overall, he was pretty decent with some feedback in the end though I barely paid attention since I was still in conversation with the guy I was talking to. After five songs, his set ended sometime before eight thirty. At 8:45, the next act that played was a local Marietta band with a singer I kinda know after seeing him at Disc-Go Round a couple of times. The band was called Deerhunter which my cohort says is a No-Wave band in the realm of early Sonic Youth. While the band had potential to be a damn good live band with a very engaging singer, equipment trouble really derailed them. Many people complained about the bass being too loud, the snare not being heard and most of all the guitars. The band did six songs where they were actually alright but the sound problems and the mic went off a bit happened while the singer almost lost his voice earlier that day but got help from Karen O. After Deerhunter's performance that ended in 9:20, the crowd definitely were in the bottom floor where myself and a few people I knew were crowded and I was standing right near the soundboard but directly in the middle in front of the stage. Around 9:45, the YYYs finally arrived. The house lights went out as the staging featured a lot of lights and disco balls surrounding them. Guitarist Nick Zinner and drummer Brian Chase arrived in their usual black clothes while multi-instrumentalist Imaad Wasif arrived wearing an orange jumpsuit. Then Brian Chase starts to hit those thundering fills as he is accompanied by Zinner's funk-drenched guitar as it leads to Phenomena where Karen O runs to the stage wearing a yellow-purple leotard with Converse shoes along with a red veil on her head and a mask. All I have to say is that Karen O in a leotard is... f*cking sexy. She moved her body while being engaging to the crowd and late in the song, she takes off the veil and mask while wearing the colors of the sleeve of Show Your Bones on her right cheek. Then the band goes further old school as O brings more cloth of the band's sleeve for Mystery Girl as Wasif moves from the bass to an acoustic guitar where the band definitely got the crowd wild. Then came Black Tongue from Fever to Tell that really got everyone going as O definitely slithered as the song definitely got everyone a little hot in this cold October weather. Then the band got the upbeat vibe going for Honeybear as everyone jumped up and down with Karen running around all over the stage and definitely getting the crowd going while Wasif did work on the keyboards. Pin arrived where the rawness that I saw from the band three years ago is still there as it got the crowd going. Gold Lion slowed things a bit as the band definitely provided more diversity to the crowd as they sang along to the lyrics while jumping up and down to the song's instrumental solo from the shimmering guitars of Zinner and Chase's barreling drums with everyone going falsetto during O's wails. The intensity of the show continued with Mysteries as things got a bit mid-tempo where the song was another favorite as O's screeching vocals definitely got the crowd riled up. Art Star from the band's 2001 self-titled EP was definitely a joy for the old-school crowd with its mix of funk and noise-thrash as everyone screamed the song's raging chorus. With Karen feeling the vibe of Atlanta, the band went to the crowd favorite of Cheated Hearts as Karen showed a bit of skin during the "take it, take it off" part that got everyone excited since she is the sexiest person in the room. After a set full of intense rockers, the mood changes a bit for a couple of ballads. First is the wonderful Turn Into as the lights dim where it's a song that swirls everyone as O steals the spotlight as she sings to the front of the crowd. Next is the acoustic Warrior where everything quiets down that brings an intimacy to the crowd as O's vocals are very impressive from her often, screeching, intense style. To close the set, they went to the hypnotic Y Control that really got everyone into a frenzy. After a break, the band returned for a three song encore beginning with an acoustic version of Maps that was just O and Zinner playing as it really hypnotized the crowd. It was easily the best ballad of the night as O, wearing the album sleeve cape, dedicated this love song to everyone in Atlanta while the disco balls sparkled on the venue. After the performance, the band stopped since they didn't know what to play next as fans screamed. I heard someone screamed for No No No while I screamed for Machine. They decided to go for the crazy rocker Tick that won in a decisive scream vote as everyone jumped up and down for the rocker. The closing song is the other song they chose for, Date With The Night that got everyone nuts as the intense rocker as everyone sang to the lyrics and jumped up and down. After that, the band left with the crowd in a total frenzy. While the set list was shorter than the band's previous Atlanta gig three years ago, the band's performance overall is far better than what they were three years ago. They sounded better and got more to do while Karen O seems more free to be not just engaging but to become a very hypnotic frontwoman. Overall, I think she's one of the best singers and performers out there and I love that leotard. I even screamed "Karen I love you" at one moment. During the set Nick Zinner brought a camera to take pictures of the fans while there were breaks during the instrumental interludes as O talked with the fans. The only thing that grates me is that I want to see them again and I wonder what they will do in the next tour. Still, it makes my confirmation that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are a band to see live. Imaad Wasif: 6/10 Deerhunter: 6/10 (Update 3/1/08: They eventually got better) YYYs: 11/10 (the extra point goes solely to that leotard) :) YYYs set list: Phenomena/Mystery Girl/Black Tongue/Honeybear/Pin/Gold Lion/Mysteries/Art Star/Cheated Hearts/Turn Into/Warrior/Y Control Encore: Maps (acoustic)/Tick/Date With The Night YYYs Reviews: Yeah Yeah Yeahs EP - Machine - Fever to Tell - Maps - (Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow DVD) - Gold Lion - Show Your Bones - Is Is EP - It's Blitz! - Atlanta, GA-Echo Lounge 11/10/03  |
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