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Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Live Review Black Lips obliterated Southern Comfort homecoming

Posted by Jhoni Jackson on Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 3:45 PM

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Atlanta is a city that does more than appreciate irony, it nurtures it. On the same night that hometown garage-punk heroes Black Lips headlined a show at Southern Comfort — that outside-the-city-limits trucker bar where twentysomething Atlantans embrace redneckery and drink alongside the truest of Southern swillers — another punk show venue was booked at an odd. This one was at a barber shop — the Cut on Stovall Street — with younger bands the Husseins and A. Grimes, who owe some thanks to Black Lips for solidifying Atlanta as a worthwhile city in punk rock land.

I wanted to see both shows, but poor planning left me restricted to just one, and I couldn’t turn down a raucous, sweaty throw-down at what’s arguably one of the city’s favorite places for a culture mashup, SoCo.

The crowd was a melting pot of familiar faces, I spotted Kenny Crucial before even entering, kids I’d never seen before who likely came out of love for Black Lips and, of course, Southern Comfort’s regulars. While waiting for Turf War to kick things off, the owner of the bar, an older man wearing all black (hat included) and a bolo tie, thanked my friends and I for coming to the show.

I asked if the regulars had to pay the $20 cover. In a plain, gruff he replied, “no,” but explained that they had to help move tables to make way for standing room and they’d have to help clean up, too. Them’s the breaks.

Vivian Girls
A lot of people complained about the higher beer prices. Supposedly, the bar jacked up the cost of PBR and set up a couple of festival-style stands to supplement the bar. Instead of griping, I thought of how much smarter the folks at SoCo are than most assume. They didn’t raise the price of all drinks, just the ones they knew this crowd would gobble up. What else were they to do when all hell breaking loose seemed imminent? Anyway, they were slinging sporting event-sized drafts at the bar at a better value—sometimes $4, sometimes $7, depending on the bartender.

Turf War’s set was not only good, but also self-aware. They’re a little Southern-fried to begin with, but a closing cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising” was a nice touch. Through it all the band’s punk rock ‘tude remained intact as members crawled on speakers, welcomed guest singers (friends, but they climbed on and off the stage enough to alert security) and were generally pretty wild. One older, thin SoCo regular sporting a Jeff Foxworthy/Larry the Cable Guy tour T-shirt danced around, arms flailing and hooking the necks of unsolicited dance partners.

Brooklyn’s Vivian Girls took the middle spot. On stage, they said this was the coolest show they’d ever played. Take that, Brooklyn! The trio of ladies didn’t add a single Southern homage to their repertoire, but that’s OK. Their set, full of slower-paced, creepy doo-wop laced cuts from their latest LP, Share the Joy, was a necessary break before the crowd became a sea of screaming Black Lips fans. They did play some older and faster tunes, and even jumped in the crowd at one point. But it was all much calmer than what came next.

Black Lips annihilated their set, of course. Several projectiles wizzed by overhead: legs, beer, maybe even blood. A friend mentioned the following day that she’d lost a shoe, and although she later found it, “irreparable damage was done.” Black Lips are close to being too big to allow stage diving and random people on stage, but that element has become a permanent part of the show. It’s part of the group’s appeal. Toning it down to a nudity-free set is fine, but to chuck the balls-to-the-wall vibe altogether would be blasphemous.

The band was keen enough about it being a hometown show to add something extra, something Atlanta music fans would appreciate: Bradford Cox of Deerhunter hopped on stage for a cover of a cover: “Do You Wanna Dance?” Donning a black wig, leather jacket a la Joey Ramone, and everyone went nuts. Though I regret missing the barber shop show, I’m glad I devoted my night to this one instead because I sincerely doubt that it will happen again — not like this.

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Honestly, one of the most pleasant & jovial shows I've experienced lately. Well done, everyone involved.

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Posted by Isopod on 09/14/2011 at 4:09 PM

Them some tight ass jeans. Hahahahahaha.

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Posted by JB007 on 09/15/2011 at 1:42 PM

Nice to see that in the 4 t-shirts in the photos above half of them are college shirts. Combine that with some overpriced PBR and you have yourself one hell of frat boy tail-gate party....punk indeed.

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Posted by Voxpopuli on 09/15/2011 at 2:59 PM

Check out our Black Lips rock poster
http://tworabbits.bigcartel.com/product/bl…

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Posted by Dos Conejos on 09/19/2011 at 3:43 PM
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