Scotland's Dark Angels take over Williamsburg, Brooklyn along with a little Nowegian Wood

It was an amazing weekend: back to back, balls to the wall rock n' roll with 3 of the finest bands out there right now. On Saturday night at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, I saw Scotland's latest and greatest import, Glasvegas, with Sweedish popstress Ida Marina as the opening act. On Sunday, it was Primal Scream. God save the Scream! They were just awesome. I've never been to a louder show! My ears are still ringing from that shit!

Opening for Glasvegas was Ida Maria. I have never been to a show where the opening band had such a command of the audience with great songs and riveting showmanship. She came on with nothing and everything to prove, forcing the audience to take notice and no sooner having everyone cheering her on and singing lyrics like, "I like you so much better when you're naked, I like me so much better when you're naked!" It was like Bjork fronting the Pretenders. The songs had this jittery energy with strong, quirky melodies, beautiful pop hooks and great tribal rhythms. She's been making waves recently and the whole band was incredibly tight keeping up with the pace of their disheveled and charismatic frontwoman. And she plays a Strat, which is pretty badass! Here's a clip courtesy of our lovely Grace:



Next up was the band I was just dying to see: Glasvegas. They're just so fucking cool! What else can be said? Their sound is borrowed from the past but also unmistakably from the future. They came on like a biker gang from the 50's, all clad in black, with pompadour flare. Lead singer Jim Allen is a dead ringer for Joe Strummer, and his gigantic voice is earnest, passionate, and vulnerable all at once. Their drummer, Caroline McKay, is straight out the Velvet Underground/Jesus And Mary Chain handbook. She plays two drums and two symbols standing up. You would be amazed at how loud and yet so intimate this can be. Lead guitarist and also the lead singer's cousin, Rab Allen, provided incredible fuzzed out melodic atmospherics while losing himself with bassist Paul Donoghue, the skinniest of the bunch, but you just know he is that guy you wouldn't want to mess with cause he would come at you like a bad surprise and kick your head in. The highlights were "Geraldine", "Flowers & Football Tops", "Go Square Go", and of course "Daddy's Gone." This tune was the last of the evening and the band stopped for a second to hear the house chanting in unision "He's gone, He's gone, He's gone, He Go-On, OH-OH-WO-OAHHH!" Just brilliant. Here's a clip of Glasvegas opening with my favorite, "Geraldine," courtesy of Grace once again. Notice the two douchebags in the front fighting. Jim Allen comes out and kicks them apart and motions to the bouncer to yank the long haired hippie who started it. KILL ALL HIPPIES!!!




And that brings me to the weekend closer with a killer set by Primal Scream. Also from Scotland, but these guys don't cross the pond that often because its tough for them to attain a visa, apparently due to their drug-related issues of old. I felt lucky enough to catch them this time around and it was just pure class, pure badass, and man was it loud! I've never been to a louder show! They came on with that Stonesy swagger. Lead singer Bobby Gillespie (who was the standing drummer for the Jesus & Marie Chain back in the day) had that waifish Mick jagger vibe with a Dylanesque snarl, clapping the audience into tribal submission. He cared, but knew he didn't have to and could care less about who thought what, as long as the music was sounding alright, which of course it was. Bassist Mani, originally of that "seminal pop group" from Manchester, England, the Stone Roses, was pumped, constantly going up to the audience and inviting them to join the party. Touring guitarist Barrie Cardigan was just pure Kieth Richards, circa 1970's Rolling Stones during Sticky Fingers or Exile On Mainstreet (Two of my favorite records of all time by the way). But the real beast was guitarist Andrew Innes. I was stage left where he was playing and it was just atrociously loud!!! I was thinking afterward, when I could still hear his fuzzed out tones ringing in my ears, that he probably has to play that loud cause even he must be close to deaf. I wanted to tell the sound man to turn his ass down! But the boy can play. He was just awesome, despite making everyone's ears bleed. Drummer Darren Mooney was tight as hell keeping up with the dance rhythms and samples while keyboardist Martin Duffy was chillin' behind Andrew Innes. All you could see of Martin Duffy was his fedora creepin' out behind the wall of sound that could only be Primal Scream. They played the best songs from another one of my all time favorite records, the politically charged "XTRMNTR." They opened the show with "Kill All Hippies." They did rousing versions of "Shoot Speed, Kill Light," "Accelerator," "Country Girl," "Rocks," and of course "Movin' On Up." Primal MotherF'ing Scream everybody:






Peace,

Din