As much of a twat Perez Hilton is, he puts together a rad tour. Yes, I just said rad.
Rad is common slang of the 80s, and last night made me feel like I’d jumped back into the 80s, with the tweaky intros Perez put together and the synth-heavy music all night.
Well, Semi-Precious Weapons weren’t synth-heavy, based on lead singer Justin Tranter’s outfits, one could see why I felt like I was in 1986. I hadn’t heard much of them before last night, and I was pleasantly surprised how much fun I had. They were great openers, bringing the room’s energy up to the highest degree at most points during their set, especially during Tranter’s banter between songs. He swore profusely, and at one point, he shouted “c*nt!” multiple times, because he said he “couldn’t give up saying it.” And of course when he changed his clothes on stage. From one pair of tights and crazy heels to another pair of tights and crazy heels. As my friend Laura said, “His junk was everywhere,” when he was changing the tights.
It was quite an eyeful. But the music wasn’t bad. It was like heavy 80s glam rock with hints of Chris Crocker (you know, the “leave Britney alone!” guy? That’s what he kinda looked like). My favorite track was “Magnetic Baby,” and it was one of the best received, with Tranter almost throwing himself into the crowd to get people to shout into the mic. The guitarist was pretty wicked, and the bassist was ridiculously spazmatic, scraping his bass against most of the hard surfaces on stage to get a intense sound. He also held out the neck of the bass to the crowd for fans to play the bass for a bit. The mixture of their energy – from the hardcore punky bassist and the glamtastic Tranter – made for an interesting live show. I didn’t know any of the music beforehand, and most of the crowd wasn’t there to see Semi-Precious Weapons, so it wasn’t nearly as energetic had they been the headliners. But it was a good way to get the crowd going though, as a majority of the people at the show was there to see Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head.
They are Seattleites, after all.
And they were technically the reason I drove down to Seattle last night to stand in line, not knowing if I would get in. Ida Maria was originally on the tour, but she canceled last week due to an illness. So Perez, being the master of connections that he is – hit up one of his favorite new bands Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head to fill in for the remainder of the tour starting in Chicago. Before they joined the tour, I contemplated going to the show because of Ladyhawke, but at that point, she was the only reason I would go. But after NPSH joined the tour, I was all over that.
But I will say right now, a friend of mine told me after Bumbershoot that NPSH was way better in smaller venues and that they sucked at Bumbershoot. Now, I don’t agree with the latter statement, but I will verify the first statement. They are SO much better in small clubs. But then again, most bands are. Intimate stages always make everything better. They started out “Slow Motion Tag Team,” one of my favorites, and after that, they kept the dance party going.
I don’t know what it would be like to see NPSH in another state, but at this point I’m glad I’m from Seattle, because undoubtedly NPSH has some of the best fans around – especially in their hometown. They even referenced some classic Seattle figures. “We see a Mariners hat, a Seahawks hat, a Nirvana shirt… but there’s another Seattle fashion staple,” and Claire England started to put her hair in a side ponytail and we all know where that was going – next song, “Sophisticated Side Ponytail.”
There was this guy standing behind us – I’ll call him Plaid Guy – but he was hilarious. When NPSH were setting up their instruments, he kept shouting at Luke, “Shaun [Libman]! Shaun!” I tapped him and was like, “I’m pretty sure that’s Luke [Smith].” Then he felt all stupid and said, “that’s why he’s not listening to us!” Apparently, Plaid Guy REALLY wanted them to play “Bedroom Costume,” which wasn’t on the setlist that had already been taped to the floor. So when Claire came out to set up her synth, Plaid Guy yelled, “put a synth here!” And when Claire put her synth right in front of us, he thanked her profusely and was all “I love you!” And almost demanded they play “Bedroom Costume.” And lo and behold, the third song in, Shaun prefaces the song with, “we’re gonna play this one for those guys over there.” And Plaid Guy went apeshit crazy.
But the best part was during “Beard Lust,” Shaun said something like “are you guys ready to dance? This guy looks ready!” And they asked people to jump up on stage for a dance off. Or just a big fat dance party. I didn’t feel like tripping over things, and my feet were slightly achey, plus, this way I could get pictures of the dance party.
Yeah, it was pretty sweet.
After they finished “Iceage Babeland,” I was beat. My feet hurt, I was hungry, I was thirsty. I would have been satisfied going home right then with what we’d already seen, but WAIT! We had yet to see Ladyhawke, the headliner to Perez’s synthtastic tour.
The mood overall was totally different for Ladyhawke’s set. Her band was all decked out in black, and her microphone stand was decorated with a string of Christmas lights, and there was a lack of banter or interaction with the crowd, at least at the beginning. It didn’t mean it was any less awesome. That way, we just got to witness an amazing artist at work. People were more just listening to the music and grooving to Ladyhawke’s smooth beats rather dancing their ass off. It was a great vibe, even though I knew people were tired.
The songs sounded awesome, and Ladyhawke’s crazy eyes helped. She does make some crazy eyes. Nobody really danced until she played her last two songs, “Paris is Burning” and “My Delirium.” Those were fun songs. Justin Tranter even made an effort to crowd surf during “Paris in Burning.” It didn’t work so well, him being like 6’4” and the crowd quite tiny, but he still did get in an “I love you!” to Ladyhawke before the crowd lowered him and his 6-inch heels down. Ladyhawke came around the stage to sing right to people on the left and right ends of the crowd.
She’s just so cool.
Plaid Guy grabbed the setlist that was taped to the floor in front of us too quickly for me to grab it. Oh well. She was still awesome. The crowd was quite a bit smaller for Ladyhawke, mostly because a lot of the NPSH fans had to leave because they had homeroom in the morning. It was an all ages show, after all.
But it was amazing, just the same.
Semi-Precious Weapons: website | myspace
Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head: website | myspace
Ladyhawke: website | myspace
