BRMC at First Ave

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (still one of my favorite band names behind Captured By Robots) graced the stage at First Ave again in support of their newly released album Beat The Devil's Tattoo. I missed most of the openers Band Of Skulls set, but did manage to catch their ferocious drum solo at the end. From what I have heard of the band, they have somewhat of a generic garage rock sound, but the crowd really seemed into them and got everyone amped for BRMC, so no complaints here.

BRMC hit the stage after a short set change and broke the mold of bands opening with the lead track or lead single off their new album and started the slow and pounding War Machine. It definitely seemed to catch the crowd by surprise, as nobody really knew how to react after the initial thrill of seeing the band on stage. After playing another new one, they reached back and pulled some of their older tunes - Red Eyes of Tears and Love Burns. By now they had established that their light show wasn't messing around, mixing hazy red light for the slow burners and seizure inducing strobe lights for the rockers.

Overall it was another stellar performance from a great live band. It took them awhile to get into anything from Howl, arguably their best album, but they eventually tempered my concern by playing Ain't No Easy Way and then later on Shuffle Your Feet. Other favorites were the classic Whatever Happened To My Rock 'N Roll, Weapon Of Choice, and new favorite Aya. Also notable was Robert Turner's solo cover of Bob Dylan's Visions Of Johanna, in which he sat cross legged by himself on stage. At one point he looked up at the crowd and laughed because of various people in the crowd holding up their lighters. The symbol really seems to have lost its meaning from over exposure, and it seemed Robert felt the same way because he let out a laugh when he saw it. They closed up their encore with a duet between Robert and lead guitarist Peter Hayes doing a slowed down version of another favorite from Howl Open Invitiation. It's hard to imagine that already slow song slowed down even more, but they did it with green lazer lights shooting out into the crowd.

When Robert left the stage he said he would see us all again soon. I hope he meant it. Check out pictures from the show below.