For about 10 minutes leading up to the start of Starfucker’s set Wednesday night, I was pretty bummed. I had just shivered my way through two outstanding opening acts at the Roseland (why’s it got to be so bloody frigid in there? Was that cold air I felt blasting through the vents?!), and one so-so performance by another, but then I found myself watching as Starfucker set up their gear onstage. And they were all wearing jeans and hoodies. Now, I know these guys’ music doesn’t weigh on how they are clothed during a set, but since it had been a couple of years since I’d last seen Starfucker live, I really, really showed up to the Roseland expecting a balls-to-the-wall type performance that would show them in their best attire.
Thankfully, as the boys returned to the stage moments later, I grinned with excitement when I saw they had overstepped my own expectations. Three of the band members were glammed out in dresses and pearls, with wigs to match, while their lead singer was decked out in a dapper suit and appropriate eyeliner. They were a foursome to behold.
Starfucker was returning home from their first month on the road with Austin-quartet The Octopus Project. Before either of those bands came out, two other Portland groups opened the show. Folk-pop trio Super XX Man's set was uneventful, and STRENGTH entertained the hell out of me. I’m willing to go out on a limb and say STRENGTH frontman Bailey Winters, may just be the best unknown frontman out there. Winters owned that stage; sashaying across it constantly, and vogueing all the while - he seemed to know exactly how to incite the crowd with as little as a flick of his wrist and point of his finger. The group also played some pretty amazing tunes, using dazzling synth sounds and Blondie-like beats. STRENGTH felt the rhythm as much as the crowd did, as evidenced by the vision of all three of them shakin’ and shimmyin’ throughout the set.
I was pumped to finally see The Octopus Project play, as their experimental sounds have kept me dancing for quite a few years. This night, the dichotomy between the black and white outfits the members wore, the color explosion going on with their flashing lights, the vibrant music they played and ever-changing video behind them was ferocious. It fell just short of inducing an acid trip on the minds of everyone in the Roseland.
The Octopus Project play a type of music that falls just short of radioactive, and their stage show matched that intensity threefold. The band members swapped instruments, and changed up what they were doing, constantly, never once seeming disorganized or clumsy. There is very little vocal expression in this group’s music, and that’s fine, because any more of it might push The Octopus Project to a level that wouldn’t be appreciated. It’s such a delightfully crashing sound they create, and it’s always evolving into different realms. Take, for example, the first time Yvonne Lambert began plucking from the theremin – that instrument has to create, by far, the most haunting sound there is. And yet it worked with the band’s style perfectly. Lambert later used it to create the most video game of noises, and it aided the rapid clap/electronica feel of the song to a tee.
It was, all in all, a Twilight Zone-esque 45 minutes or so, and it was only appropriate the set ended with the band asking the crowd to mimic Little Richard’s shriek of ‘Twiiiiiins,’ from the closing credits of the Schwarzenegger/Devito flick of the ‘80s, to launch into a song about twins. It was epic.
Almost as epic as Starfucker’s set, one that turned lovely, doting fans into near lunatics. The boys frequently mentioned how good it was to be home, and it was clear the warm reception that was given to them had a lot to do with that. Starfucker has grown up quite a bit from their early days as a fun pop band, now presenting themselves as a fierce collection of musicians, capable of delivering a full and powerful sound that shakes you up from head to toe. Their indie electronica never sounded cleaner and more concise, particularly in their new single, “Julius,” a fresh squeezed ‘80s-sounding gem that hits with all the right sparkling of notes.
I literally saw people lose their shit when favorites like “Pop Song” and “Isabella of Castille” got played. Fans would bounce wildly from one end of the venue to the other, eyes glassed over with adoration. The best, though, was watching a giggling 5-year-old do a mean robot to “Medicine.”
The band seemed to be having quite a few tech problems throughout the entire show, frequently mouthing to the sound and light guys to fix something, but the set felt like it went off without a hitch. Even the guy who managed to jump the stage and dance around a second was able to jump back into the crowd before security and a few of the band members noticed anything was amiss. There was one song, however, they chose to end with cataclysmic feedback, and the faultiness there lay on them, not the techs. While the sound was rad for about 15 seconds, it became annoyingly deafening and remained that way for almost 2 minutes. Sometimes you got to let a good thing go, especially after the point’s been made, Starfucker. Just sayin’.
In the end, these hometown boys put on a spectacular show, and it came to a finish with an encore of "Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second," the supremely catchy hit that went nationwide recently through its use in a Target commercial. Following that, the group invited half the audience to join them on the stage for one last “crazy” song, and there couldn’t have been a better way to wrap up such a vivacious night. And I’m not sure if it was Starfucker’s doing, or the Roseland’s, but whoever spit out the remix of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s “Gimme Pizza” over the speakers, following that gleeful moment, gets a gigantic high five from yours truly. Helluva show, all around. I’m not sure my feet are gonna stop dancing for a couple of days.
