BRAIN: Rodeo review

[Rudich, Robert A]

I caught the Brain Surgeons at the Rodeo Club last weekend and thought I'd
attempt a subjective review of the night.

The Rodeo is an intimate little club with a small section of tables by the
stage, backed by a bar area where the real bulk of people watch.   The sound
is nice and clean and crowd noise is not intrusive (at least in the table
area where we were).

The club started to get really packed about 10:30 and a number of tBS folk
were there, including Paul Special.  The Brain Surgeons came on around 11
p.m. after the crowd was warmed up by an interesting opening band, Mean
Reds. Luckily, I got my copy of BoH signed by all the band before their set.
 I was hoping to bump into some other BOC-L members, especially Steve Swann
(I am You and You are I), but missed out.  Anyway, here is the night's set
list (about 55 min):

Gun
Medusa
St. Vitus Dance
Date With a Guitar
Locked Up
Laura's Plastic Swords
Gimme Nothing
My Civilization
Tender Was the Night (plenty of wah wah, Carl)
Operation Luv (included a tasty drum and bass break)
    *******
Overture (with guest Jack Rigg)
Dominance and Submission (raucous Al laughter)
    *******
Red & Black

Right from the start the gig gave every sign of being a good one.   The new
material from BoH seemed to be at a slightly faster pace and both Peter and
Billy began cranking with the 1st riffs of Gun.  It's not apparent on the CD
(except maybe to John), but Gun is a great opening song!  The drums were
really strong through out the set, driving the tempo and giving Al fans a
treat.  The set was done in their recent "dense pack" style with little or
no break between songs.  The result is a tight sound that just builds in
impact from song to song.   Studio tBS is very polished and studied, live it
is pedal to the metal.   Deb's vocals may fit the live side even more than
the studio version (I wish they did I'm on Fire). The 2 sounds are very
complementary and my appreciation of BoH increased considerably.  The encore
of Overture and D&S contrasted the now with the near forgotten past very
effectively, the applause that followed spurred an impromptu 2nd encore that
was not on the printed set list.  (Overture joins Tequila as the only other
one word lyric song.)

After the set a crush of people came up to the stage to express their
appreciation to the band (my foresight paid off).  Most left clutching a new
copy of BoH.   I dragged my brother, a jaded New Yawk theater stagehand,
along with us for his 1st exposure to the group.   He came not expecting
much and left as a fan on the mailing list.  It was an all around good time
for us, the rest of the crowd, and seemingly even Al.  Catch tBS live if you
can.

Rudy

ObHWcomment -  'Lil Egypt arguably shows some HW Assassins influence.  Maybe
a cover of something HW, like Needle Gun, could be done live as a goof and a
nod to the other side of the list.