On Saturday night I attended the sold out Apes And Androids show at the Mercury Lounge. If you're a regular reader of BSC then you know that I A&A is one of my favorite bands to see live. On top of that another fave of mine, Sigmund Droid, was opening the show.
I got to the show around 9:30, about thirty minutes before Sigmund Droid hit the stage. It's been awhile since I've seen them play so I was excited. After about two minutes I realized that they have gotten much better. They were good before but it seems like they really got it together these days. As they played the room quickly filled up and was about 2/3rds full by the end of the set. People were clearly enjoying themselves. Towards the end they played one of my favorites, "Liverpool Sluts", and based on the crowd's reaction I'm not the only one that loves that song.
Next up was Die Romantik. They set up strings of cheap chandelier lighting across the stage. I think they were going for a "romantic" feel - get it? Well it didn't really work in my opinion. The band wasn't bad... they just made no sense sandwiched in between Sigmund Droid and A&A. To be honest with you I was on the couch for the entirety of their set.
After they cleared the stage the A&A stage set up was revealed. They had five metallic alien heads with glowing red eyes hovering over the stage. After a few minutes of waiting the boys of A&A took the stage. As always they were decked out in face paint and shiny clothes. By this point the Mercury Lounge was insanely packed - you simply couldn't move. The crowd was a strange mix, not typical of an A&A show. But I guess that's what a bands "Merc show" is all about - exposure.
They played a fantastic set which included many of my favorites including "Riverside", "Nights Of The Week", "Golden Prize" and "Hot Kathy". The first time I saw "Golden Prize" performed was a few weeks ago. The entire band pulls out drums for some kind of tribal alien crunk shit - it's incredible and it was clear that the crowd was in awe. "Hot Kathy" was awesome, as always, but I'm still not sure why they don't close with it more often. It gets the crowd so hyped up and all of my favorite shows of theirs had "Hot Kathy" as the closer.
Anyway, halfway through the set the lights went down and the band ducked behind the speakers. Then the alien overlords began their communication. The five heads, eyes ablaze, had a discussion in several alien languages. The middle overlord spoke English in exactly the bad ass voice you would expect of an overlord. It was awesome and hilarious!
Overall, this was classic A&A. They were spectacular and everyone in the crowd was going crazy. Everyone knew they were witnessing something special - a band about to burst. It was like everyone there was in on a secret and this was the last chance to feel special about being an A&A fan. After all this was A&A's Mercury Lounge show, the show that broke many of your favorite bands. A successful Merc show is incredibly important for an upcoming band. I've been to many of the shows at Merc that broke bands and I have to say that none were even half as good as what I witnessed Saturday night. Apes and Androids are ready and you better be too because they are the future.
It's been known for a month or so that Apes & Androids were heading over to the UK for a show or two. Since then they've managed to add a couple more gigs and a BBC appearance! Way to go boys! All you BSC readers in Europe better be at these shows (that goes for both of you).
