Heartless Bastards
Where's rock 'n roll? Well, depends on where you are. But it certainly is not dead. On Monday night rock 'n roll was at Music Hall of Williamsburg with a power trio of a line-up including Heartless Bastards, Wolfmother, and thenewno2. It was sure to be a wicked night of rock music. Just the day before this show was the much larger Terminal 5 in NYC with barricade and huge stage. That was not the case at this more intimate 550 capacity venue with no barricade. Despite this show coming together two weeks before and it being a Monday, the show was sold out.
Heartless Bastards was the cream to the oreo of the line-up, providing a nice garage rock/blues feel. The Cincinnati, Ohio 4-piece played mostly material from their latest release, The Mountain and a couple off Stairs and Elevators. They started it off with "Done Got Old" about feeling old. I think it's fair to draw comparisons to labelmates Black Keys and Janis Joplin.
The band's title track for The Mountain felt like a jammy blues, you could hear it singer Erika Wennerstrom's voice as she sings "Take it on down the line." She was joined by bandmates Dave Colvin on drums, Jesse Ebaugh on bass, and Mark Nathan on guitars.
Midway through the set singer and guitarist Erika was holding a cup and someone in crowd replied "hows' the coffee?" in a somewhat condescending way like what musician drinks coffee on stage? It did look like a coffee cup. Erika replied firmly, "it's whiskey and ginger" and went on her way to playing. Something that stood out was that of all the setlists theirs was the only one hand written and after thenewno2 finished Erika could immediately be seen, setlist and drink in hand helping set up. Even during the set when the mic was having a problem, she tried to fix it quickly and made sure everything was ok, then continued on. She just went it and did it, she didn't wait for help or seem startled by the random mic give out. The sad, yet hopeful "Nothing Seems the Same" closed the set.
Just this year, Heartless Batards have toured with The Gaslight Anthem, headlined Maxwell's, and toured on many fest including All Points West, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and Outside Lands Festivals. The band knows how to keep active! If this year is any indication of their future, 2010 looks bright for the quartet. The Mountains is available $5 at Amazon.com this month only. Check it out if you dig.
More pics, review, and setslists below.
Thenewno2 from London featuring Dhani Harrison, George Harrison's son, started the night. The rock act included keyboard, which made for a dance/rock feel. But there was something off about the sound. You could hear the drums, and at points everything kinda just blended together in this unfocused way. I couldn't understand the vocals at all but I could hear the beat and I saw some people in the from moving around. "Out of Mind" and "Yomp" were nicely done. They had a sort of groovy, spacey feel.
The crowd exploded for Wolfmother, the 4-piece Australian rock band led by singer and guitarist Andrew Stockdale. By this point the venue was packed and the crowd was ready to move. "California Queen" was the jam that really impressed me. During the band's breakout hit, the catchy and groovy song "Woman," the mosh pit opened and pushing and headbanging was ensue. I couldn't help but think how well Wolfmother would fit on a bill with The Black Keys, Japandroids, and Screaming Females. Anyone hear me on that one? Anyway, when "Sundial" came on, I was reminded of Black Sabbath's "N.I.B." The slow, jam infectious guitar feel of the song had me headbanging along with the crowd to. The vocal were very similar to Ozzy, which says a lot, because I'm not sure how many people can sing like the "Prince of Darkness."
At one point, my friend's jacket land's on top of my head and the guy next to me and suddenly Andrew grabs it and puts it on. He rocks through the next song with it on and then sort of struggles to take it off with his guitar still on, then finally gets it off and tosses it back to the crowd. He also went into the crowd briefly for a song. The mosh pit seemed a little wild. I kept getting pushed and their were plenty of crowd surfers, but the guys on the side of the stage made sure everything went smoothly. It felt good to be apart of this and seeing people enjoying themselves and the band having a good time. Andrew had a few good moves, kicking his silver boots in the air and doing the rocker styled walk, guitar in the air. The 80-minute set was closed off with an additional 15-minute encore featuring 3 songs that almost seemed to be one big jam.
Cosmic Egg features the chuggy riffs, rock 'n roll goodness groove, and softer, jammy parts that make an album what compelling to hear. It was great to several new song were in the set. As one fan noted, this show would refute the notion that rock is dead. Simple stellar sets.
Get ready to have your face melted with this line-up. The tour wraps up in two weeks, so catch it while you can.
Heartless Bastards
Wolfmother
thenewno2
thenewno2 Setlist:
1. So Vain
2. Give You Love
3. Out of Mind
4. Crazy Tuesday
5. Yomp
6. Choose
Heartless Bastards Setlist:
1. Done Got Old
2. Gray
3. Out at Sea
4. Witchy Poo
5. Hold Your Head High
6. Early in the Morning
7. Swamp Song
8. Nothing Seems the Same
Wolfmother Setlist:
1. Dimension
2. Cosmic egg
3. California Queen
4. New moon rising
5. Woman
6. White Unicorn
7. White Feather
8. Colossal
9. Sundial
10. Apple Tree
11. Violence of the sun
12. In the Castle
Encore:
Vagabond
Back Round (new)
Joker & the Thief
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