Moguls 1997.01.04 [Hollywood, CA]

w/ Moog

Live fan show review by "Miss Eva" - found in the digital archive. [-AArtVark]

January 04, 1997 - Hollywood Mogul, Hollywood, CA

  Viva La Monkey!!!

  The chaos of a new year seems to leave us with only one certain thing, that everything will be changing. Babyland is no exception to this; the new year has brought us a rejuvenated Dan and Smith. 1997's first Babyland show was arguably their most energetic and enthralling in quite some time. This was a markedly different event not only because of it's place in line with shows to come, but also because, save for the songs "A Slow News Day", "Dimissal" and "Begin Again", the set was comprised of songs not released on the band's three CDs.

  After about twenty minutes of set-up time, Dan and Smith opened with "Omaha", a fast-paced song that's quickly becoming a staple to the set. From the beginning of the night, interaction between the band and the audience was high; we alternated between being enmeshed in a hurried, slamming frenzy to bouncing and waving our arms in disco-like fashion. In keeping with the spirit of the new year, Babyland offered us a peek at unreleased songs; "Five Fingers", a song about intimate aliens, "Test Pilot", a wonderfully chaotic aggressive piece, and "It Never Ends" were among the new selections, which were greeted just as warmly as the constant crowd-favourite "Dismissal", with its offering of burnt metal and showers of sparks.

  It would seem that Babyland was just as anxious to play as the audience was to see them play. The general tone of the evening was a jovial one: a highlight of the evening was Smith, dressed to the nines in a fitted pea green jacket and garish neon green work shirt (sans sleeves for all you Smith admirers), calling to attention the fact that Babyland has deemed 1997 "Viva La Monkey". Also to be noted was his lulling (or attempting to lull) the audience into peaceful slumber with coos of "go to sleep... you are sleepy". It didn't work, but was certainly adorable. Dan stayed within tradition and worked himself into a sweat quickly enough to merit his t-shirt being removed by the second song. His vocals were incredibly sharp and, even moreso than usual, he involved the crowd in performing, from jumping offstage (and being lost amidst head-rubbing moshers) to singing at us to having us sing with him.

  Save the Hollywood Mogul cutting off Dan's vocals half way through the last song of the night, "Begin Again", it was a glitch free evening, appreciated by old fans and new visitors alike, and left us 110% BABYLAND SATISFIED.

Impala Café 1996.11.24 [Los Angeles, CA]

Live fan show review by "Miss Eva" - found in the digital archive. [-AArtVark]

November 23, 1996 - Impala Cafe, Los Angeles, CA

  The evening of the last Babyland show for 1996 started for your humble narrator by watching LA based band THC. The stage setting was very appropriate for the mind-blasting (mind-numbing?) beats they assaulted to crowd with... all smoke machines and strobe lights, and a little equipment on an otherwise barren stage. The music definitely had its techno-oriented drums, loops, and samples drawing attention, but with the lack of activity on stage, it didn't manage to keep me focused. A few songs into the set, it felt more like a party with good music as a background to conversation, not in the foreground as they, and I, might have hoped. 

  One might say Babyland got a start on the wrong foot this night... before their set one of their speakers went out and Dan's vocals had to be piped through monitors, meaning he had to scream the vocals for them to be heard all the way around the cafe. Also, Dan was feeling a bit under the weather, and the combination was just enough to keep an energetic set from lasting too long.

  After a good twenty minutes of setting up, Babyland jolted us with 'Stomach', working the audience into a spastic frenzy. Dan and Smith followed up with 'Plain Talk', a great song to get older fans of the band riled up into a punk-minded riotous dance. Added as a twist was the sound of Dan screaming at the end of the song "I will never give in, I never did". New songs 'Omaha' and 'Five Fingers' were on the list as well, dancy, groove-oriented songs that fit in well with the rest of the set, including 'A Slow News Day' and 'Begin Again'.

  The definite high-point of the night was 'Arthur Jermyn', before which Smith chanted 'HPL HPL HPL'(the initials of author Howard Philip Lovecraft, who wrote the story 'Arthur Jermyn') after introducing as 'a song no one ever requests'. It was a rare moment where no one was thrashing around and all attention was diverted straight to a writhing Dan and a manic Smith.

  With a noticeably short set, it was a pull in two directions: satisfaction at seeing an incredible set and disappointment that it was so fleeting. But all good things come to an end... Good luck to the boys in 1997.

Sacred Grounds 1996.11.09 [San Pedro, CA]

Live fan show review by "Miss Eva" - found in the digital archive. [-AArtVark]

November 9, 1996 - Sacred Grounds, San Pedro, CA

  The Sacred Grounds show offered Babyland as the 7th of 8 bands to play at a show starting at 3 in the afternoon. My friend and I, however, did not arrive at the show until 9pm, so I was only able to catch E. Coli and Babyland. E-Coli wasn't at all bad... They had an interesting take on the too-often stagnant guitar pop-rock genre... nothing mind-blowing but the band members seemed honest and kept the music interesting. Their set was noticeably short, whether for lack of time or for lack of interest by the audience (most of the people at Sacred Grounds were outside smoking) I can't be sure.

  Babyland took longer than usual to set up, Sacred Grounds being so small all of their equipment had to be stored outside until they went on. They opened with the crowd rousing 'A Slow News Day', and even more crowd rousing came from Smith's shower of small toys and whistles to "bribe" the crowd out of sitting on the chairs. The climate was good, Babyland being well-received; though they weren't headlining it seemed most of the crowd came to see the band, or at least knew who they were. We were offered the oft-played single Omaha, a spark-inducing Dismissal, the dance-urging Begin Again, and two new songs; appreciation was shown with bouncing and interactive audience drumming.

  Unfortunately the evening took a bad turn and the set was abruptly ended after only 6 songs. More of the crowd toy fare were cans of fake snow, which ended up being sprayed in Dan's face by a small boy and caused great pain and the set's close. All in all, though short, the show was great. Yet another Babyland satisfied evening.

Faultline, The 1996.11.02

Live fan show review by "Miss Eva" - found in the digital archive. [-AArtVark]

November 2, 1996 - Faultline, Los Angeles, CA

  Well, I would have a review of the show here, BUT I WASN'T OLD ENOUGH! Feh. I'm 20. Why can't there be any 20 and over shows :P Anyway, I'm trying to coerce one of my elders to give me a summary of this show so you left with more than just my ranting and raving.

 

Troubadour, The 1996.10.14 [Los Angeles, CA]

w/ Foreskin 500


 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.

 

Corona Showcase Theater 1996.10.12 [Corona, CA]

Live fan show reviewby "Miss Eva" - found in the digital archive. [-AArtVark]

October 12, 1996 - Showcase Theatre, Corona, CA

  I dare say tonight's show was sprinkled with some opening bands a bit better than average... my friend Matt and I missed the opening band (apparently we didn't miss anything from the crowd's buzz)... the second band, whose name was something like PsychoFuzzMachine, was not too bad; danceable guitar-addled industrial at some points, more rocking at others. Spastic Colon was next, a very experimental hands-on industrial sound; their pieces were impressive but ultimately the common problem of not being able to keep an audience interested without some kind of interaction befell them.

  Next came local band 29 Died... I'll stop myself from saying too much seeing as I didn't start this page to slay other bands; only a few words. Faux arrogance with a poor delivery does not an interested audience make (tho I could be wrong; they might very well be arrogant). The music sounded quite a bit like a Nitzer Ebb rip-off, but an interesting cover of Soft Cell's Tainted Love saved them.

  As for our main attraction, they were heavenly ! They treated us all with a number of songs off You Suck Crap: Structure Fall, Do You Feel Lost?, Reality, and Logan's Run being my personal favorite; one of the rare instances when you can see Smith come out from behind his percussion goodies and prance and sing like a madman. An added treat was seeing the re-emergence of black paint as an accesory for Dan; a blink might have caused one to miss Dan crawling underneath his computer only to come back with his mask we've missed so much.

   I dare say Smith seemed more relaxed than he has been the past few shows; he appeared to be having a lot more fun than at the last LA show at the Impala Cafe, and that really helps the audience get into it. Dan was on target as usual, and his audience interaction was more focused, actually looking into people's eyes and responding to the audience. I was able to grab his attention long enough to simultaneously get some hip-hop arm motions going during Worst Case Scenario.

  All in all, this show left the official Babyland reviewing committee BABYLAND SATISFIED!

Berkeley Square 1996.09.28 [Berkeley, CA]

w/ Fuel - lb.