Electric Six
The Boiler Room, Denton
April 16, 2009
Better than: the lame-ass excuses given by my friends found not to join me. You know who you are.
Download: Check out our slideshow from last night's show.
Six years and a couple hilarious music videos later, Electric Six still rides on the head of steam built up by "Gay Bar," a song that hit No. 1 in the U.K. back in '03. The minor Internet meme launched after dozens of homemade music videos appeared on Youtube helps, of course.
As such, by the time Electric Six finally came out on stage last night, the crowd was already pushed tightly against the Boiler Room stage.
(I say "finally" because the lineup followed a pattern established and maintained by every show I've seen in Denton: The opening act starts late after a no-hurry, last-minute sound check while the second act feels some pressure to hurry it up; they want to play their whole set too, leaving the headliner to run up against closing time and the crowd bummed because they bought tickets for a band that didn't play enough songs.)
On the plus side, tonight's crowd definitely got its money's worth with the two opening bands, The House Harkonnen and Bang Camaro: HK turned a crowd of metal-skeptics into true believers with a gotta-hear-it-to-believe-it synchronized guitar solo; Bang Camaro crammed 11 band members, including six backup singers, onto the stage and headbanged its way through some '80s-style hair metal.
As for the Six? Their set list started out guitar heavy, then switched
over to the band's dancier material for the rest of the evening.
While "Gay Bar" and "High Voltage" were the clear favorites--especially when the former was dedicated to Governor Perry--the audience, who ranged from frat boys to a couple dressed for Ziggy Stardust cosplay, sang along to most of the songs.
It's tough to complain about a fun, high-energy show, but the headliners could have played a bit longer.
Critic's notebook:
Personal bias: I spent a semester in England puking warm beer to the strains of "Gay Bar."
By the way: I was tempted to uphold that puking tradition after seeing the Boiler Room's drink prices.
Random note: I bitch about Denton, yeah, but at least I can always count on running into someone I know there when my friends flake out and stay home.
