When the lead singer of a band comes into a show recovering from both a back injury and some alien death virus, this doesn’t bode well for a good performance. When the aforementioned band, California’s Liars shows up on the night of a heinously awful fall-causing ice storm, that doesn’t bode well for a large audience. Suffice to say, Tuesday night’s show was not the cult-building stuff of legend. There was no equipment climbing, no odd wardrobe choices, and no true freakouts. So Liars had to make do with what they had: an intensity that defies injury, a room full of truly dedicated fans and a setlist full of noisy tinny percussion and primal screams that could inspire blind rage (or at least perpetual fist pumping) from your average mild-mannered cubicle neighbor.

Liars shows are not friendly territory for anyone who considers themselves a fan of the melody. Lead singer Angus Andrews doesn’t so much sing as yell with rhythm, punctuating his lyrics with primal screams and yelps. Not that this matters much since, particularly in a live setting, the vocals are somewhat obscured by the massive amounts of reverb and synth and the metallic sounding drums of Julian Gross. Even at their most accessible, this wasn’t a sing-a-long provoking set.

Photo by Katherine Gaines