Who: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club • The Rapture • The Starlite Desperation
This was Best Concert EVER™ material, the kind of show where you can feel the music.
The Starlite Desperation was loud in a glam rock sort of way but not embarrassing in the glam rock sort of way. The phrase “big licks” comes to mind. As does “Is that a cucumber in your pants or are you happy to see me?”
The Rapture was so completely New York new wave that typically unmoving indie rock kids actually danced. The reverb on the singer’s voice was ridiculous. So was the way that he seemed to yell all of his lyrics. But in a good way.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club was intense. Their music is so jagged and raw, like a combination of agony, longing, and lust. It’s the grinding of metal and the groaning of the shifting earth. I wanted to cry through most of it and make out during the rest of it. Shade of Blue especially had me going. It’s that chorus—I don't care if you can take it/I can't take it anymore, I'll die. It left me exhausted.
My intention with the night's photographs was to show my view from the audience without any of the zooming past the crowd that I usually do. As a result, I got some great overhead lighting but no substantial band shots. Still, I'm fairly certain that the sacrifice was worth it.
Where: The Majestic Theater • Detroit, Michigan
When: April 8th, 2004