West Hollywood, February 17, 2009
I’d like to begin by making a quick apology for not posting a review of the show on February 10th. Your faithful reviewer had real life complications, which prevented me from making my usual early arrival to the show. I missed the first two bands, and half a review is no review at all.
Now on to the review…
Tuesday night started off with Mike D and Josh L. Mike D began on vocals, playing an acoustic guitar and singing through their songs; “Stone in the Ocean”, “Keep Your Beam Clean”, “It Would Be” and “Cooking Man’s Stove”, then Josh took the acoustic while Mike D switched to the bongos for “Willing”, and their own acoustic cover of “Wonderwall” by Oasis.
Following Mike D and Josh’s set were a new group to 24K Tuesdays, Reigel & Blatt. Sam Reigel and Rob Blatt are a comedy / Music team. They sang only a few songs, with chorus’ like “Ikea, what a great idea..” They were a completely unexpected act, and the crowd seemed a little surprised at first, but soon the crowd was laughing and really getting into it. After only four songs, Reigel & Blatt made way for Phillip Ross and his band.
I must rave about The Absolute. Their live sound makes my tiny frame rattle, pleasingly. They played about ten songs during the course of the night, and every song was progressively stronger and more bone-shaking. The third song of their set was called, “Why, Oh Why.” It’s my favorite of theirs, and though I’m providing a link, it doesn’t really do justice to how truly incredible the song sounds live, nor how amazing their very young drummer, Anthony is. His drums and Philip Ross’s vocals are the reason I”m so hooked on this song. Their fourth song was another remarkable song, “Hear The Band Play“.
After a really nice mix up of both fast paced, and slower tunes, the Absolute left the stage to 100 Monkeys. Jackson Rathbone wasn’t present for the evening’s performance due to scheduling conflicts. The band took the stage, and I heard mumbles of speculation about how well they’d be received from the crowd.
Let me state clearly that although Jackson was naturally missed, 100 Monkeys definitively rocked the night. Jerad started the night off with a grinning call to the babbling crowd, “We’re down one Monkey, but we’re still gonna rock this *****!” (I will leave his actual words to the imagination of readers, for the sake of more tender eyes and ears.) It was exactly the right thing to say, because the audience screamed back a ringingly positive response.
The first song they played was “Wing On Fire“, playing it to a slightly different tempo, but still keeping the fans rolling with it. Uncle Larry moved to the keyboard to take vocals for their second song, “Stormy Monday“, which is always a beautifully sweet song. Shan took over on bongos while Uncle Larry sang, they switched back for their next song, “Ugly Girl“. I’m going to admit readily to you that I was dancing with the beat of the intro to the song, watching Ben G on his bass as the lyrics began. It took a moment for me to recognize three things rapidly; the first was that the lyrics sounded fantastic, the second was that Ben Johnson was singing from behind the drums, and the third was that Ben J was owning it!
Ben J continued to sing for the next song, “Smoke“, on the second verse, Ben Graupner took over and Uncle Larry’s chimes added his usual flavor. On the fifth tune, Ben moved to keyboards, Shan to lead and Ben pulled out a set of lime green and lemon yellow morocco’s from his back pocket to use, as they sang “Sweet Face“. The popularity of this song is growing fast. I’ve had a couple of people remark to me that it’s their favorite.
Jerad grabbed the bass, Shan took over on lead and Ben J stayed on the keyboards for “Wasteland“. Ben Graupner was doing his own private pogo dance while Jerad played the bass well, and the crowd even better. Jerad’s on-stage antics had several people giggling, between his crazy facial expressions and walking his fingers down the mic stand. For the seventh and final song of their set, Ben G took the bass back from Jerad, who moved over to keyboards, as Shan took lead guitar again. Ben G sang “Orson Brawl” and it sounded amazing. It’s always an up song to end their set with.
Before I launch into the last review of the night for The Sandman, I’d like to give a shout out to “Charlie’s Angel’s” (or in this case, “Miller’s Angels”) Amber, Jordan and Gina, who have dubbed me their honorary “Bosley.” I’m not sure if I’m following in the footsteps of Bill Murray, or Bernie Mac, but either way, being called “Bosley” in a bar when you’re a girl is pretty amusing.
So, finally The Sandman came up and their first song choice was a new song named “On Our Own”. Miller Uwanawich, owner of 24K Lounge took up the bass for The Sandman. The song turned out to be the most clearly “rock” song The Sandman have played in the many times I’ve seen them. The next song was their standard “Voodoo Woman”, which has an undercurrent to it, which reminds me a little of Lynard Skynard. The song got to some of the 100 Monkeys band members who were roaming around in the crowd. Uncle Larry headed up to help them with his flute, Ben Graupner hopped up on the bongos and Jerad went for the Keyboards. The song lasted a good long time and it was really obvious that they were all enjoying the jam. They got off the stage for the last song, but Shan hopped onto the keyboards as Jeff began singing an as yet unnamed ballad to Amber of the “Charlie’s (Miller’s) Angels” crew. The song sort of derailed, Jeff seemed to be having a little trouble with the lyrics. Still, it was a really enjoyable tune.
And so another night at 24K Lounge ended with a different line-up, but the same good feeling their shows always leave you with. We wish Jackson the best of luck, and hope to see him back to his dancing self next week. Perhaps 100 Monkeys will perform the song I seem to be getting a lot of questions about, “Eardrums“. Everybody get ready to dance!
Cheers!
-Lydia
**Special Thanks for videos to:
The Artist’s Consortium for “Why Oh Why”
TheAbsoluteMusic for “Hear The Band Play”
Kittytrio for “Wing On Fire”, “Stormy Monday”, “Ugly Girl”, “Smoke”, “Sweet Face”, The Sandman “Unnamed” video, “Wasteland” and “Orson Brawl”
Hogwartsswthrt for “Eardrums”
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Liquid Zoo
Every Monkey Dookies
Bleeding Horse Express
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Haha I’m glad you remembered us! I can’t wait to see you at more of the shows. Great review btw I’m sure everyone else would agree! You’re a great Bosley!