If the Hold Steady serve their classic rock and roll with a dose of heavy optimism (see “Positive Jam,” upcoming album Stay Positive), then Atlanta’s Black Lips might be considered their evil twin brother. Using “Bad Kids” as a song title and a call to action, their Saturday night set at the Black Cat was about as raucous and rowdy as they come.
While the stories about expelled bodily fluids and being banned from a host of clubs may be true, Saturday’s hijinks were limited to a few pop-fly spit-wads and one tongue-heavy kiss between bassist and guitarist. Anyone who’s read their blog might come to expect a higher degree of depravity — maybe some shock and horror, too — but instead, it was bare bones rock and roll, played so fast and without reprieve that I won’t even try to run through the setlist for you. A simple recounting wouldn’t do justice to the fact that this was truly one unified set, the feedback from one song bleeding right into the next, the crowd barely able to stop bouncing before the next song kicked in, and every moment soaked in equal parts sweat and Pabst Blue Ribbon.
Some great tunes were played though, and those absolutely deserve mention. The Lips brought out favorite “Katrina” early on and turned it into a rousing singalong, complete with a maniacally tossed-off anti-solo. The aforementioned “Bad Kids” traded in galloping country rhythm and melodic vocals, turning the song into the anthem it was supposed to be. “Cold Hands,” with mini guitar licks straight off of a Ventures record, rehashed the same bash-and-pop of “Katrina” but the insistent double backbeat made it seem twice as fast.
The blistering pace barely even subsided for the encore (and hardly long enough for the amps to stop buzzing), but the band returned triumphantly with “Veni Vidi Vici.” Other songs followed, yet with the audience swaying/staggering to the tape loops and screaming the titular phrase in unison, this was not only one of the show’s peaks, it was a statement of purpose for a bunch of bad kids full of menace but positively overflowing with rock and roll heart.
