LIARS @ Cabaret Juste Pour Rire

By Alex Huynh - Losing My Edge - 06/22/2006

This will be quick and dirty, as the window on my remembering details of the Liars show is rapidly closing. Honestly, I was expecting a lot from this, namely because their latest record Drum's Not Dead is probably the freshest breath of air among this year's releases. While they did deliver -- the dual drumming especially made the performance -- I came out of it feeling that I had just seen a rock show. Just a rock show. Nothing transcendental, nothing catatonia-inducing, just another night with a beginning, middle and end. Obviously, it's unfair to expect anything more than a kick-ass performance -- which they gave us -- and the burden of such wild expectations is more on me than on the artists on stage.

But I don't know; I feel tired. The Man Man gig a few weeks prior gave me feelings I haven't felt in a long time at a show. It was genuinely unhinged and I felt happy and giddy about witnessing such an intense performance. I felt part of something. For Liars, my role as a concert audience member was clearly defined and their role as concert performers just as well. It's weird, because for a music that flirts with tribalism and capable of touching our primal instincts, there was something oddly clinical and human about the show.

I want to praise this show to the high heavens; very few bands at their relatively commercial level are releasing anything as exciting or being as adventurous. The thing is, this was a good show. Fantastic sound and they seemingly were into the performance, and the crowd reacted in kind. Can I really ask for more?

I don't know, I'm just tired.

[Tune in to Losing My Edge Sundays 2pm-4pm and Tuesdays 8pm-10pm.]