May 10, 2008

The Slackers @ Stateside

I have to admit, I attended this concert solely on the recommendation of Nightrain, and the only thing I knew about The Slackers was what I read in Nuts' album review and the few songs they have on their MySpace. I was more than pleasantly surprised. The first opener was a forgettable reggae band that sauntered through what seemed like an hour of reggae standards. The songs were probably all originals, but they sounded like your average college reggae band, in it just to say they are in a band. I never caught their name, but they said they were from L.A. After that, Chicago's Deals Gone Bad played an awesome set, with their lead singer producing a soulful sound you would not expect from his bearded, tattooed exterior. Great vocal harmonies with the sax player, and just an all together great performance by the band had everyone in the audience dancing, which was their intent according to the charismatic frontman. Next up, The Slackers took the stage in all their New York skankin glory. The guitarist was sporting the classic black suit, thin black tie and cropped fedora, lookin like he could have modeled for the Op. Ivy logo, and the rest of the band all had unique styles that you'd expect from veteran hipsters. They rocked the house, some highlights included "Every Day Is sunday" and a cool cover of Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive". After playin their set, the crowd disappointed with their inability to produce an encore clap, prompting the sax player to come to the stage and ask "You want to hear some more music, or what?" This got a rise from the crowd, and they came out and rocked for another half hour or so. All in all this was an awesome show, well worth the $14 I would normally never shell out to see a band that I hadn't previously listened to, and I can confidently reccomend you check out The Slackers and/or Deals Gone Bad live if you ever get the chance. On a side note, this night began with the random appearance of a couple "robots" with a boom box strapped to the back of one that was tuned to a radio station that somehow kept tuning in and out from reggae music to mexican music. Interesting to say the least.

2 Comments:

Doctor Diggs said...

I didnt put this in the post to keep a professional air about things, but this review would have been better if i knew more about the bands, their songs, and how to write. hope it was informative, and if not, mildly enjoyable.

sandenuts said...

I'm glad you got to check them out man, they are at the top of my list when it comes to bands I want to see live this summer, and now I have first hand knowledge that they rock, good stuff.