Look at us, we formed a band!

Art Brut
The Independent
March 21 2006

What can I say about Art Brut? I dig their fun lyrics and the fact that they don't take themselves so seriously. Here's a sampling from the song, Modern Art:

So I'm in the Tate
And I'm looking at Hockney
And oh sweet Jesus
There's something about that blue
It touches me deep inside
Amazes me when I step outside
I'm sweating
I'm sweating
I'm beginning to palpitate
I can't help myself
I just can't help myself

Modern art
Makes me
Want to rock out

Yeah! How can you not enjoy that?

The Independent was crowded, although I'm not sure if it sold out. The opening act was..um...interesting. Picture two guys from Ohio with guitars and techno tracks playing in the background. One's using vocal effects ala Peter Frampton and moving about like a whirling dervish. By then end of their set, they had both stripped down to their speedos...I think you get the picture.

Art Brut opened with We Formed A Band and Eddie jokingly commented that whoever set up the mics and gave him a 3-foot cord had obviously never seen them play before. But that didn't stop him from using his mic cord to jump rope and venture into the crowd.

After they played 18,000 Lira, someone in the crowd asked how much that would be in American dollars. Eddie thought about this for a minute, and then responded with $4.73 (it's actually $11.22 and please don't ask me why I looked that up). The band had fun, the crowd was into it, and I saw plenty of people singing along (it reminded me of seeing The Darkness at Slims: Everyone sang at that show -- including me! -- it was awesome).

Before they launched into Good Weekend, Eddie told the crowd that the song was #1 in places like Germany, Narnia, and the former Yugoslavia. The set ended with him shouting "Art Brut! Top of the Pops!" proceeded by the acknowledgment of one of San Francisco's finest bands: "Journey! Top of the Pops!".