Sometimes, it feels like music has gone a little soft and wimpy on us. Don’t get me wrong, I love me a good folk tune or cleanly produced dance song as much as the next person. Sometimes there are days where I wake up just yearning for some dark, guitar-driven rock or even a little black metal. Les Savy Fav is all rock and their show at the Wonder Ballroom took the space to new levels of rowdy and rambunctious. The band has not only continued making inspired art-punk since its inception in 1995, but manages to put on an entertaining and engaging live show to boot.
Before Les Savy Fav took the stage, though, we the audience were forced to stand and witness the disaster that was Reporter. This is a band I cannot and never will be able to entirely get behind. They’ve had a lot of hype built around them in Portland’s local music scene that I’ve just never seen them live up to. The three-piece band, led by singer Alberta Poon’s obnoxiously breathy coos, was a two-piece this fine evening. Their usual drummer Mike McKinnion was noticeably absent and had been replaced by a drum machine that made their already empty-sounding set that much more devoid of feeling.
Not everything I’ve heard from Reporter is terrible, but neither is it too amazing either. There is a lot of far more engaging dance music in and around Portland that has less of the I’m-too-cool-for-this vibe and more interesting arrangements. In the good moments, their instrumentals were toe-tappingly catchy and slightly interesting. When they were bad though, it was enough to make you want to walk out of the venue (which I think quite a few people might have done). Poon’s voice is as thin and limp as a wet noodle and just as bland. I’ve heard this same voice described as “breathy and sensual,” but all I could hear was poor vocal control and annoyance.
As soon as Reporter finished up, the crowd finally fleshed itself out. Though the room never really seemed to fill up much, the crowd concentrated itself up near the stage, giving it a very “packed” feel if you managed to make your way up into the mob. Les Savy Fav took the stage with a confused and mumbled flourish. Lead singer Tim Harrington, known far and wide for his striking stage presence, came out into the spotlight with a giant can of condensed milk, setting it down after some brief introductions so he could launch into what proved to be a musical spectacle of epic proportions.
The funny thing about Les Savy Fav is that while their music is great and the show sounded wonderful, what I really remember from seeing them is Harrington doing all sorts of outrageous stuff. Several songs in, after he had already asked the sound guy if he could “make everything louder,” Harrington took a trip up to the balcony of the venue and physically forced everyone sitting up there to come down to the floor. He then made his way back to the stage where he proceeded to vigorously suck on one lucky audience member’s hand (or unlucky depending on how you feel about a crazy rocker dude’s saliva getting all over you). It really never seemed to end.
When Harrington wasn’t acting life a total crazy person, he was still being a weirdo. He made several interesting onstage costume changes that involved the various removal and putting on of items that ultimately got torn to shreds and put back on in some other fashion. For all of their weird antics, Les Savy Fav really is a memorable live experience. The raw energy of their recordings transfers perfectly onto the stage, with the entire band really throwing themselves into the music physically. The have a special knack for riling the crowd up into a top notch mosh pit and pulling some energetic dance moves out from even the shyest wallflower.
The only time that the chaos got to be a little bit much was toward the end, and things seemed to get weirder and weirder. Songs began meshing into one another and Harrignton kept declaring that one was going to be the last song, only to go on and keep playing. During one of these fake out encores, Harrington actually jumped down off the stage, walked down the security partition that split the 21+ and all ages sides of the room and went out the door of the venue. The band continued to play and Harrington eventually came back after they had stopped, leading the crowd in a chant for one more song, which he seemed happy to oblige us with. They ended with an epic rendition of “Who Rocks the Party,” finally bringing the hysteria of their music to an end and leaving the crowd frenzied, sweaty, and bruised, but totally satisfied.
