Live fan show review by "Miss Eva" - found in the digital archive. [-AArtVark]
October 14, 1996 - Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA
Tonight's show
was (as described by Smith) a 'grab bag' of opening bands... we luckily only
caught the tail end of the first band (whose name escapes me, with reason no
doubt). Way too much easy-alternative-listening influence on these people, and
the crowd showed the after effects.
The second band
(again I forget name) is a bit confusing to make a statement on. Their first
few songs were moody ala Portishead without the trip-hop. The singer, all
a-glow in seventies siren regalia, had a bad habit of pushing her voice too far
too fast, and sounding sharp on a lot of key moments. I think she was showing
off her range a little too much, and while her enthusiasm (and that of the rest
of the band's) helped the crowd really get into it, the constant climbing and
descending of scales killed it for me. But, as Smith said, it would be interesting
to see them again in 6 months or a year or so, with a lot of hard work.
After what seemed
forever, our heroes took the stage. They opened with Kill Bugs, just
high-energy enough to get the always overly-rambunctious Troubadour crowd
romping around. It seemed that Dan and Smith were excited about the show, and
were running around and having fun as usual. We were again treated to quite a
few songs off You Suck Crap, including Mask, which whipped everyone into a frothing,
stomping, knee-bashing (ok, maybe just my knee) frenzy. Also showcased was a
new song that they have only been playing the past couple of shows, which was
still in the vein of the electro-punk sound Babyland seems to own. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line
technical problems put a damper on things (though only for Dan and Smith; we
were still eating it up with a spoon) and the show ended somewhat abruptly.
The overall
experience was wonderful (I mean they are Babyland), but a little disheartening, if only because of Dan and Smith's apparent disappointment.
