Tue 10 Apr – Man Man

"If you have time to sleep, you have time to see Man Man." These wise words were uttered by a bearded friend of mine prior to last night's show and are now on my list of "phrases to live by," right after "hug 'em if you got 'em" and "run as if the wind were always at your back."

For starters, Ice Dogs cancelled leaving the role of warm-up act squarely on the shoulders of Black Squirrel. On the bill, these three bands' names looked really awesome, but looks can be deceiving. Did Black Squirrel get this gig just because their name looked "cool" next to the other two acts? Please tell me, One Percent guys. Now, they weren't exactly terrible. They did have their bright moments. Like the light flourish cued up at just the right moment halfway through their third song, and the word painting the bass player pulled off seamlessly. However, this did not make up for the cheezy keyboard solos and poor choice of rhyming words. ("Give me cocaine, give me whiskey/Give me something nice and risky" (try "give my cat a can of friskies" instead.) Since this band fell heavily in the folk genre and was made up of two females and a male, I couldn't help but draw comparisons. A suggestion for a new band name would be Pickle Creek. All in all, they were at least good at what they did. They just seemed so out of place, so...un-experimental and weird.

Next came the main event. Watching Man Man get ready was really a fun experience. They knew exactly where they wanted their gear and how high the levels should be. They just seemed like they were having fun, even if they pretended not to. The guitar player actually sound-checked his mic by saying "pizza, pizza, pizza...," and when the crowd started copying him, he switched to "burgers" then "bagels" while maintaining the most serious of faces. Brilliant. Then, they all left the stage for their "costume change."

They came back all decked out in white with head bands and face/war paint. I think the thing I love most about this band is their passion for percussive instruments and just rhythms in general. The moments where everyone was either beating a drum, hitting a huge cylinder thing or just beating something with a stick were the moments I got really excited. The horns were on point as well. The dude with the glasses brought the pain with his saxophones and the guitarist impressed everyone with his use of both trumpet and flugelhorn(?).

While I will admit that I'm not well-versed in Man Man's catalogue, from what I was hearing, most of the songs were either brand new or not from Six Demon Bag. This surprised me because I was expecting to see more from the new album. What I can say is that I am excited about where this band is going, maybe more excited than I am about where they've been. On Push the Eagle's Stomach, Honus Honus(the lead guy)and the drummer were doing some synchronized jumping during the "mustache" part. This energy and raw enthusiasm carried the entire set. It didn't matter which song they were playing, they played it well and they played their hearts out. At the end of the set, I wanted more and aparently so did everyone else that came. The encore was also from the new album, a somber, yet upbeat rendition of Van Helsing Boombox. It was followed by a raucus drum circle outro. WOW! I am very glad I went to this show, even though I had to fight sleep to do it. Man Man is what music needs right now: a bunch of crazy guys who play their instruments well and enjoy every moment of it.


--j