Above: The lead singer of Art Brut, Eddie Argos, rouses a Lawrence crowd Tuesday night. Photos by Bill Brownlee/Special to The Star
Eddie Argos smelled like rock and roll.
A pungent odor trailed the singer of Art Brut as he cavorted through the Granada on Tuesday night.
Argos leads an English band with a preposterous premise: They specialize in self-referential songs about being in a band and the accompanying pop music machinery. Part joke and part genius, Art Brut's manic 45-minute set was a sloppy and gloriously absurd spectacle.
When Argos wasn't teetering on cocktail tables and doing jumping jacks with his microphone cord, he complained about poor sales in Lawrence and exhorted the young fans pressed against the stage to form their own bands.
"It's a drinking song. It's a dancing song. It's a love song," Argos declared in his introduction to "Good Weekend." "So drink, dance and fall in love."
Above: Craig Finn of the Hold Steady.
Like Argos, Craig Finn of the Hold Steady believes in the redemptive power of rock and roll.
Every Hold Steady performance is a ritualized exercise in catharsis. The audience's participation is no less a part of the show than the music performed by the Brooklyn-based band.
"If that was an un-ironic wave, then that was fucking awesome," Finn exclaimed after many of the approximately 300 fans in the room executed the synchronized sports arena gesture.
Yet the Hold Steady is a very different band than the version that appeared to be perilously close to falling apart at their two previous shows in Lawrence. Instead of resembling the dangerously derelict Replacements, they've matured into an accomplished punk rock version of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. Not only do their wheels no longer wobble, they're now a well-oiled machine.
Their newfound professionalism isn't entirely a good thing. It almost seemed like they were slumming when they careened through raucous material like "Same Kooks."
Three new songs provided insights into the band's direction. "It's a joke about Jamaica," Finn said sheepishly as he introduced a rocker loaded with Led Zeppelin references. "And it's our new song."
He needn't have felt embarrassed. The word-drunk ditty is catchy enough to become the band's breakthrough hit. A sensitive ballad titled "Lord I'm Discouraged" and the Stones-esque "Sequestered in Memphis" were also promising.
"I want to thank both the opening bands for telling the truth," Finn acknowledged near the end of the Hold Steady's 80-minute performance.
And it's strange but true: Art Brut bested the Hold Steady on a Tuesday night in Kansas.
Scottish trio 1990s held their own during their opening set of startlingly fresh power pop. They add an unlikely sense of fun to the nervous sounds of early XTC, Wire and Television.
| Bill Brownlee, Special to The Star
Couldn't catch this show due to work, but I'll bet it was a hoot! I have seen both bands live before and The Hold Steady and Art Brut are definitely two of the best live bands around (add Mute Math to that list). I'll take seeing these guys in a club over an overblown Van Halen or Garth Brooks concert at the Sprint Center any day!
Posted by: Geordan | November 14, 2007 at 01:45 PM
Not as gloriously celebratory as the last show at the Bottleneck (remember the confetti and everyone onstage?!), but they still bring it well. A punk Springsteen indeed. And the rest of the lineup didn't suck either.
Posted by: brent anderson | November 15, 2007 at 02:39 PM