Yeah Yeah Yeahs¶
761 words on Music
I was introduced to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs by both Richard and Vicky, who included songs of their Master EP (EPs again!) on CDs for me. Very nice. Loud, dirty, wholesome. I liked it. Another band doing splendidly without a bass, just having a singer, guitar and drums. You just have to love or at least appreciate the genius and happy mayhem of songs like Art Star, Miles Away and Bang.
Definitely not a band for a day with a hangover or headache of any other sort. Perhaps because Karen, their singer, is a girl, a 'roughed up PJ Harvey on steroids' was my first impression – inadequately abusing that common phrase.
I got myself their new Fever to Tell LP a while ago. Being a picture LP made it a particularly easy sale. While it seems a bit more refined than the EP, it certainly isn't tame at all. While my favourite song remains Pin – Date with the Night, Man and Tick are very powerful and good as well.
Things are feelin' thin –
I know, I know.
Lost my seat again –
I'll go, I'll go.
Pushing in the pin,
I know, I know.
We're gonna go back in,
we're gonna go go go.
(: Bam bam bam bam bam bam bam bam,
dunno, dunno, dunno, dunno. :3x)
Bam bam bam bam bam bam bam bam bam.
I like to sleep with them –
pushing in the pin.
I like to sleep with them –
I know, I know.
(:We're gonna go back in –
we're gonna go go go. :)
Bam bam bam bam ...Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Pin
So after failing to go to any festivals this summer, I though I have to use the opportunity to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs when playing at the Logo in Hamburg. Which I did yesterday. Of course seeing that it was another very hot day and knowing Logo to be a rather small venue, no more than three metres high with a capacity between 200 and 300, this was asking for trouble – particularly as the show was sold out eventually. Luckily I still got a ticket and could enjoy the trouble.
On entering it was already quite hot. The kind of hot that makes me sweat just for the very fact that I'm alive – no need for moving there. And that was just for the pre-support band – a guy who sang along to some electronic gadgets playing and making a lot of fuss about undressing in a queer way. His music wasn't bad but not too remarkable either. And I was a bit late so I can't remember his name.
After that there was the support band tigerBeat from Hamburg. I already saw them playing at the electro osho in Göttingen in 2002 along with electronic one-person 'band' ASCII.disko. tigerBeat play average kind of indie rock. Not bad not outstanding either. Although I had the impression they were better than the year before. And if it hadn't been so hot – perhaps I could be more enthusiastic about them now. With them being a local band, they seemed to have a couple of fans in the audience, heating everything up even more.
When finally the Yeah Yeah Yeahs came on, the audience progressed from merely sweaty to outrightly drenched. Most definitely this was the hottest concert I've been to so far. Kudos to the band for still playing a lot of songs and doing so energetically. Doing some jumping around during many of the songs was as compelling as it was silly: The atmosphere, the band and the music were just right – while any movement seemed a bit out of place.
Unfortunately I had to leave the front rows after about two thirds of the show as I thought I might faint or something in case I don't get something to drink. They sold little bottles of water for a fair €1 apiece. I had a couple of those and only then realised how exhausted I was and thought it was better to enjoy the rest of the show from the back of the room. They played mostly slower songs towards the end and for the encore so that wasn't too bad.
People just ran outside for fresh air and cooling off after the gig ended. Many wrung out their shirts. Wearing a soaked shirt of course was a perfect excuse to buy one of the band's T-shirts on sale. I got an orange one with rabbits on it.
