Artists: Wavves & Fucked Up
Venue: Royale, Boston, MA
Date: Friday, September 23, 2011
Comments:
Act I: Wavves– Anyone that has shared a room with me for at least a few days can name at least one or two Wavves songs. If you’re Chris’s roommate you will be inundated with a plethora of Wavves and other Punk Slimers. So yeah for KLYAM, seeing Wavves is like Opening Day of the Baseball Season (seeing Black Lips is our Super Bowl X 100), big stuff, big stuff. The boys, with new addition, Alex Gates (Boston Chinks, Barbaras, Magic Kids), bring their best game yet.  The set begins with the Wavves (2009) classic “Beach Demon,” a terrific choice for opener, but sadly the crowd seems unenthusiastic.  The band sounded great and with BD being one of my top Wavves tunes, I was quite excited, but my awe apparently was not shared with the other attendees, until the next song…  “Idiot,” one of King of the Beach’s (2010)  strongest tracks . Perhaps, the kiddies did not recognize  BD? but when Idiot kicked in the crowd exploded per usual, and everything was right again in the KLYAM- Wavves universe.  Idiot truly is one of the quintessential Wavves songs. Just perfect Wavves, in every sense. I often think of what song I would use to introduce the unconverted, and definitely Idiot is in the top three. In general, the group is probably the biggest youthful anthem oriented band of our generation, like Nirvana, The Replacements, Cheap Trick, The Who, and Chuck Berry in generations past. Now, I know to most reading this you must have a look on your face like I interrupted your birthday party, hopped up on the table, and in front of you and all your disgusted friends and family members, I took a massive dump right on your precious cake. Well, that may be so, but if you look at Wavves, not just their music, but their fans, it is like a mirror of this generation, good or bad.  That is what I noticed at the Royale, the few times I was able to stand on my two feet.  The sweaty crowd enjoyed all of the various Wavves numbers on display for the evening. And that is certainly one of the greatest treats of seeing Wavves live: hit after hit. They play all the classic songs a die hard fan (or even casual fan for that matter) would want them to play.  Songs from the first Wave (insert the obnoxious laughter that appears before the track “Idiot”) a la “So Bored,” Kingdabeech era, and lastly 4/6 of the new EP Life Sux.  Can you dig it? It is dug, son.  Honestly, one of the few bands that have consistently satsified that element of a great concert for me. Actually the only band really.  The second major aspect of what makes Wavves stand out is the nice little touches, they, particularly, singer/guitarist, Nathan Williams, sprinkle into the songs.  One of my favorite moments was when they started playing “To the Dregs,”- a song that makes me hard on a regular basis, and Nathan is just calmly strummin’ the guitar and softly singing the “wooooooooooo” vocals, indicating that it is in fact Dregs and seriously pumping me up for the song. “In the Sand,” was another major stand out, and when Nathan sings the lines “Say what you wanted to sayyyy…” you can see in his eyes that he even he knows he is the shit.  Alright, well I’ve sucked his dong long enough now, and that’s not my job, that job is for another Bratty B.

Set List (from album to album):

Wavves (2008):
“Wavves”

Wavvves (2009):
“Beach Demon”
“To the Dregs”
“So Bored”
“No Hope Kids”

“Friends Were Gone”

King of the Beach (2010):
“King of the Beach”
“Super Soaker”
“Idiot”
“Post Acid”
“Take On the World”
“Green Eyes”
“Linus Spacehead”

Life Sux (2011):
“Bug”
“I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl”
“Nodding Off”
“In the Sand”

Act II: Fucked Up– I have to admit I came for Wavves; I often come for Wavves, but Fucked Up has been on the KLYAM back burner for a couple of years. I am at best a casual FU fan, but nontheless I do dabble in their work and I appreciate it. Seeing them live enhances that appreciation for sure. They sounded great and while I cannot say I recognized any of the songs, I was massively entertained by the showmanship of frontman Damian Abraham aka Pink Eyes. This dude serioulsy appreciates his fans; interacting with the audience the whole time, even going so far as to hop off stage into the sea of fans and literally, with mic in hand, strolling all the way to the very back of the club to sing along and “bro down” with anyone in sight. Everyone was having a gay olde time, until there was some unexpected commotion that briefly dettered the evening’s momentum.  Long story short, an enraged stage diver got into a physical altercation with a body guard- he swung his fist at the guard, the guard swung back and his cronies joined in, a field day ensued, leading to his excommunication.  Damian settled the score, explaining how he saw the confrontation go down. He affirmed that despite this little disturbance, everyone else can still have fun. And we did. We all lived happily ever after. The End.

Grade: 9/10- Wavves always kicks ass and Fucked Up was pretty sick too!

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