Live Reviews: Brigitte Calls Me Baby, Fontaines D.C., Porchfest…
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
Though exhausting, last weekend was the best weekend of indie music Omaha has seen in quite a while. It also was a weekend of broad musical contrasts. Let’s start at the beginning…
Based on the publicity and online buzz, I thought Friday night’s Brigitte Calls Me Baby concert at Reverb would possibly sell out before I had a chance to get to the venue (as we had another successful art opening at Ming Toy Gallery earlier that evening that kept me “bartending” ’til 9). To my surprise, the club was merely comfortably full when I arrived.
Looking more like posh ‘80s post-glam Londoners than five lads from Chicago, the band tore into their catalog, which consists mostly of their debut album, The Future Is Our Way Out (2024, ATO), a pointedly retro-sounding collection of rock songs clearly influenced by ’80s “new wave” MTV icons. Pick your favorites: Dream Academy, Roxy Music, Modern English, and yes, undeniably, The Smiths/Morrissey.
Like most of us who grew up in that era, I love those bands and that style of music. The boys in Brigitte must love it as well, as they aped that sound with a capital A. First-rate musicians all, they were honed to recording-quality perfection, no doubt thanks to endless rehearsals and touring.
Frontman Wes Leavins is one of the most talented male vocalists I’ve heard in some time. Flawless. He, along with the rest of the guys on stage in their black suit jackets and big hair, resembled the prom band from your favorite John Hughes coming-of-age flick — a perfect fit for an audience where middle-aged (and older) dudes outnumbered young girls by two-to-one.
But unlike those influential ’80s bands, Brigitte showed zero passion while performing. The gig felt very much like a SXSW industry event where the band shuffles on stage and plays their catalog without acknowledging the middle-aged audience of industry slubs standing in judgement.
These talented hairdressers looked bored and disinterested as they rifled through their set, no doubt wondering what they’re doing in Omaha and where they’re going to eat afterward.
It was like watching a super-tight tribute band, with Leavins playing the Morrissey/Bryan Ferry role without any edge or appeal, though I admit the guy is a serious crooner. He could do a killer Elvis or Roy Orbison impersonation. And as if reading my mind, for their encore the band played a knockout cover of “In Dreams” that would have made Dean Stockwell proud.
You could not draw a bigger contrast to Brigitte’s performance than Saturday night’s killer set by Fontaines D.C. at The Slowdown.
It was the first time I felt like I was at a rock concert since my Civic Auditorium days. Though from Dublin City, they reminded me of ‘90s Madchester acts if only for their looks – frontman Grian Chatten bouncied like Bez in his white sunglasses and black oversized long-sleeved T while the rest of the band looked Euro cool standing back in their own shades.
Unlike Brigitte’s Leavins, Chatten was the ultimate rock showman, leaning out to the crowd with arms outstretched atop a monitor or dancing a jig with a tambourine in hand. He was magnetic, egging on fans throughout a set that showcased mostly songs off Fontaines’ latest and greatest, Romance (2024, XL) along with a few from 2022’s Skinty Fia.
The band’s albums are some of the best indie rock recordings of the current era, but the songs took on an entirely new life on stage – they were harder, more dynamic, more interesting. Like any band, Fontaines sound owes much to their influences. A fellow musicologist in the audience texted me during the set: “The Fall does London Calling.” A couple songs later I counter-texted: “The Fall does Disintegration” (as the band tore into “Bug”) and moments after that: “The Fall does Trompe le Monde” (as the band ripped into “Here’s The Thing”).
Despite those comparisons, Fontaines have carved out their own timeless sound that places them on the mantle as this generation’s most important Irish rock band.
I thought how lucky we were to see them playing live, in their prime, performing vital new music that will be just as vital 30 years from now when they’re doing their inevitable reunion tour. When that happens, the 20-somethings who made up most of Saturday night’s audience will be the age I am now, and I will be in my 80s, and we’ll both say, “I remember seeing them play Slowdown when Romance came out in ’24. That was one of the best concerts I ever saw.”
Finally, in contrast to the hullabaloo of those two rock shows, Sunday was Porchfest, the 8th annual event where local performers play for small gatherings literally from porches throughout the Gifford Park neighborhood. Porchfest has become a real festival, adding two formal stages to the porch stages, a marketplace and multiple food trucks and vendors.
From the Yates Illuminates stage I caught a set by B.B. Sledge – a band I’ve been trying to see for a couple years. My tenaciousness was rewarded Sunday afternoon as I and around 50 neighbors enjoyed their unique brand of indie folk rock. We also wandered over to the nearby “open mic” porch and caught a few songs by someone who never identified himself but kind of reminded me of an acoustic Graham Parker. What will Porchfest become for Year 9?
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The rock keeps on rolling tonight at The Waiting Room when Kalamazoo emo trio Saturdays at Your Place headlines. Harrison Gordon and TRSH open at 7 p.m. $22.
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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
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