By Aaron Mendelsohn Wednesday, March 03, 2004
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YEAH YEAH YEAHS
Karen O and those other guys at the Beachland.
What happens between the studio and the stage is an enigma of sorts for many bands. Some musicians cherish the stage, making it their sanctuary, while others simply go through the motions of trying to adequately reproduce their songs live. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 75-minute set fell somewhere in between, as the band showcased its fist-raising, hard rock music, but never really exploded with the energy found on its full-length debut, last year's Fever to Tell .
The band chose to start the show on a down note, opening with “Porcelain” and not really eliciting much of a crowd reaction until four songs into the set when “Black Tongue” received roaring applause from the sold-out audience. “Rich” and “Date With the Night” followed, but the band and singer Karen O never were able to completely synchronize their parts.
One thing evident throughout the evening was that no one can deny singer Karen O her due. With long, dark hair masking her almond-shaped eyes and adorned in a slinky leopard-print dress, the sexy starlet was a cabaret singer on speed, continually in motion, while drummer Brian Chase and guitarist Nick Zinner were barely afterthoughts. And that was part of the band's problem. The music seemed bare and unworthy of Karen O's ongoing antics and orgasmic vocals, as the two musicians struggled to equal her obvious energy.
The show's three-song encore highlighted what the band was truly capable of producing, but unfortunately it came too late. “Our Time” was a melodic singalong, “Tick” exploded with all of the pent up estrogen one would expect, and “Modern Romance” was an appropriate summation for the evening. But it ultimately left you questioning the effort.
TV on the Radio and Big Black Africa both played short opening sets of vanguard rock. Big Black Africa's music was politically charged in the Rage Against the Machine rap-rock mold, but failed to get much reaction, while TV on the Radio showed an avant-rock tendency that maintained the audience's attention, and even had much of the crowd rocking along.