Having never been to Billboard before, I must say my expectations were low. It's a nightclub... and a poor one at that from all accounts. But after descending the stairs under Russell street you're greeted with a sight that looks like something from Blade Runner. Neon lights are friggin everywhere... all different colours. It's kind of bizarrely charming even. What was not charming was having to drink bottled beer out of plastic cups. No beer taps... epic fail. But a big stage and plenty of room made up for it.
Wolf and Cub were the supports tonight, and had changed a lot since I first saw them 4 or 5 years ago. While back then they were a bunch of young kids making a whole bunch of noise, now they're older and hairier, making some more organised noise. Two drummers give the band a real kick (gettit) and the bass has an awesome tone to it... some real bitchy fuzz during one song was da coolest. Then the guitarist/vocalist yelps about some crazy stuff while playing catchy little riffs. Should have been awesome, but was let down by what appeared to be a lack of teamwork between drummers and the fact that nobody looked like they were having any fun. A smile goes a long way fellas.
The first thing I noted as Primal Scream kicked of with Kill all Hippies was how fercuckin loud it was. It was also the second, forth, eighth, fifteenth, sixteenth, twenty-third and forty-second thing I noticed. Kind of unnecessarily loud (I was fine with the volume - no thanks to QOTSA - up until the big finish with 6 solid minutes of loud noise, quite unnecessary! PAT). But as loud as it was, it didn't detract from the quality of the sound... every instrument was perfect in the mix. The band played a bunch of new stuff, old stuff and everything in between from their 20 year career... going from their Stonesy songs (Rocks was clearly the crowd favourite), psychedelic jams (Burning Wheel was intense) all the way through to their real dance stuff (Swatstika Eyes was my fave song of the night, it was nigh impossible to dance during that baby). Most importantly, the band looked like they were having fun... smiles between band mates and true acknowledgement of the crowd... I hope Wolf and Cub were paying attention.
I'm not actually sure if that whole review made any sense... it's hard to concentrate with all this ringing....
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