March 20, 2006
The Go! Team @ Black Cat: Here to Rock the Mic
England's The Go! Team has been touring tirelessly in recent months, bringing their patented brand of cheerleader rock all across the globe. Last night marked their first ever stop in D.C., where they met a sold out Black Cat crowd that for once remembered to wear their dancing shoes.
For those of you that haven't heard The Go! Team's brilliant first album, Thunder Lightening Strike, their sound is somewhere in the unexpected intersection of old school party hip hop, 60s girl groups, surf rock and retro-ish sample-heavy big beat British dance music in the vein of Fatboy Slim or Lionrock. The Go! Team is, in a word, fun. They're not out to make a thinking-man's album -- they make dance music with recorders, doubled up drum kits and melodicas, on top of the standard guitar/keys/vocals. Their music is sincere in its pursuit of fun -- what's more fun than cheers and clapping that punctuate a female emcee?
And what a female emcee she is! Her name is Ninja, and she's the second coming of Tina Turner with, perhaps, a little MC Lyte thrown in. The album doesn't feature a lot of up front vocals, but she is the maestro of their live show. Rapping, leading crowd participation, and dancing until the sweat on her face became part of the show's lighting, this woman had the crowd wrapped around her little finger last night. The entire band was clad in bright colors and ironic accessories (athletic headbands, slap bracelets), and she channeled all of that visual energy into more power than her short frame would lead you to believe possible. She got D.C. residents to dance.
I've never seen a Black Cat crowd react to a show the way they reacted to The Go! Team last night. While I would have thought it a travesty if people didn't move their bodies to music that so blatantly begs you to, I've certainly been party to similar travesties in the past. People were actually dancing. Not just swaying or waving their arms or clapping, but really dancing.
The band played most of Thunder Lightening Strike, as well as several new songs that feature their same general vibe, which the crowd responded to just as much as they did to the songs from the album. The only complaint I had last night was the sound. I spent the first half of the show up front with the thronging masses, deafened by the screeching volume of the keys and vocals that made nearly everything else (including all sounds approaching my left ear today) muted. The closer I got to the mixing board, the better the sound was, but a better balance has to be possible. It was the only dark spot on a fantastic performance, but, ya know, sound is a pretty big deal.
A word on the openers: Talkdemonic -- good sound, less than riveting live show because so very much was being looped. Sure, The Go! Team loops a lot too, but they had six people on stage, whereas Talkdemonic had two. Their music would make a good film score. As for Medications -- these guys went balls to the wall. This D.C./Dischord band brought that mid-90s pinache that indie rock bands had before they were cool and accessible. These guys rock.
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Awesome review- you captured the night perfectly. I too have been afflicted with semi-deafness, but it was well worth it. I go to the Black Cat often, and am usually one of the disaffected types nursing whiskey at the bar, never dancing, because, well, I ain't got no rhythm. But this time, I was one of the crazy fools with her hands in the air. I've never had such an exhilarating feeling of losing myself in a crowd at Black Cat before- definitely a show I'll remember.
Good review, though I wasn't to thrilled with the opening acts (Talkdemonic was a bit too out-of-tune for me, and Medications tried to channel the 1960s-era Who thrash, but just didn't pull it off). The Go! Team was fun, though, and you're right: Ninja knows how to work a crowd. The level of instrumental talent in the group is great, and while they're not all master vocalists - indeed, Ninja was the only good vocalist of the three who sang - they seem to have a blast doing their thing.
The big buzzkill: the sound was awful throughout (and I was in the back, about as far away from the speaker system as you could get). I get the feeling that the sound guys at the Black Cat don't fully understand the difference between full sound and loud sound. I go into some detail about this on my blog. Suffice it to say, some clubs understand how to mix good, full, booming sound without being ear-shattering (e.g. 9:30, Birchmere, and clubs in NYC and Boston), while others mask shortcomings (physical and technical) by turning up the volume to unhealthy levels. The Black Cat falls into the latter. Even with good earplugs, my ears were bothere throughout - and I already have some hearing loss from attending too many loud concerts in my "salad days" (at 32, those days aren't too far behind, either).
Then there's the smoke issue, and after going to a great show at Boston's Paradise Rock Club a couple of weeks back (smoke-free throughout, per Boston regulations), stepping into a smoky cave wasn't too much fun. Can't wait for 2007....
I have tickets to see Hard-Fi at the Black Cat on the 30th, which I will use. But I doubt I'll head back there again for another show unless they work on the audio situation. My money will go elsewhere, thankyouverymuch.
I wasn't at the show, so I can't attest to the sound, but pretty much every Go Team concert review I've ever read has said their live sound is shit, leading me to believe it's not the club's fault. The Wedding Present sounded great a few weeks ago.
I don't doubt that The Go! Team has their own sound problems, but it's also true that the Black Cat has sound issues just about every other performance. There were several points during The National's show last week when the soundsystem actually hurt my ears, not because of the volume but because of sonic glitches and distortion on the high end. There are consistently problems with the way they mike lead vocals, and sometimes the mix is so far off that I become convinced that the person working the soundboard has suffered some extreme hearing loss of his own.
I'm not going to stop going to Black Cat shows any time soon, they book far too many bands that I want to see, but I really wish they would upgrade their speakers, if not the entire soundsystem. It would be a vast improvement over the current situation.
The sound for the Go! Team show was a little out there, but you know those British sound guys - they looooove to crank up the volume and the high end. The Black Cat can't control who shows up to mix these bands. Especially if they're English.
I think the openers were extremely mismatched for the show. I hesitate to say either band was bad.......I just think they were terrible choices for that type of atmosphere. The Go Team were an incredibly positive and dancy band. Neither of the openers were really those things. Talk Demonic made me sleepy and Medications were a bit too brash-sounding for the night.
I don't think it was too loud -- I think it was the band. I enjoyed the show quite a bit; the jumpiness of the band, the enthusiasm of the crowd, the energy and on-stage persona of Ninja, the crazy instrument changes, etc.....I just don't think the sound translates live very well. That being said, I don't think many people noticed.
It's funny to me how a lot of folks that mostly go see indie-type music (for lack of a better term) think it's weird when they see people dance at shows. It actually happens more often than you think. If you want to see DC at it's concert-dancing peak, check out Los Amigos Invisibles the next time they come to town.
Oh rubbish on toast! Those English sound guys! The sound wasn't great - we commented on it instantly. But as for it being loud, not even close to loud. Oooooh my ears hurt! You babies. Kyle's claim about the Go Team isn't valid- use google. Compare that to people's complaints about the Black Cat.
Anyway, I think they demonstrated amply that the point is not to replicate the record but to thrill. And, as making people in DC dance is apparently a major achievement, they certainly rocked.
As for the supports, yes, totally wrong. TalkDemonic should try to get some other members that don't plug in- only their setlist would reveal one song to be different from the next; and the Medications - well, as my wife said, totally unnecessary masturbation. I'm afraid they made me wish for Ocean Colour Scene, which is something I never expected in this life, being about as bad an insult as is possible.
I'm just happy they made it to DC after snubbing us twice. Makes me mad.
I hope Annie next week is a good dance party too. I love me some DC Dance.
"It's funny to me how a lot of folks that mostly go see indie-type music (for lack of a better term) think it's weird when they see people dance at shows."
I understand your point completely. But I go to different shows other than hipster-ish pitchfork media d-sucking bands' shows, and people aren't as reserved. I don't think it's a "dancing isn't cool" thing for the typical Black Cat crowd, well actually I have no idea what it is. Basically my point is that it's funny to look around you at those types of shows and everyone looks like they want to kill themselves. See "The Standing Still" off Dismemberment Plan's "Is Terrified."
"It's funny to me how a lot of folks that mostly go see indie-type music (for lack of a better term) think it's weird when they see people dance at shows."
I understand your point completely. But I go to different shows other than hipster-ish pitchfork media d-sucking bands' shows, and people aren't as reserved. I don't think it's a "dancing isn't cool" thing for the typical Black Cat crowd, well actually I have no idea what it is. Basically my point is that it's funny to look around you at those types of shows and everyone looks like they want to kill themselves. See "The Standing Still" off Dismemberment Plan's "Is Terrified."
In reference to Rudi's post:
I have probably seen over 200 shows at the Black Cat over the past 8 years, I'm still not deaf and have quite fond memories of amazing sounding shows, and the club has been operating successfully and happily, up until folks like Rudi decided to take their money elsewhere.
Well, here it is: Do it, please! Everybody will continue to be just fine. Your money is obviously more important to you than the bands (and therefore the art) you spend it on, and no more code will be wasted on DCist on your complaints about live sound produced by non-Black Cat sound engineers.
BTW, the Who were a four-piece, maybe you meant the Jam (which would be an equally ridiculous, but at least numerically correct comparison to the Medications).
As for the Go!Team: Sure, if you're into 80's kids' party music with lots of awkward self-references.