Electric Six

As soon as I step into the events hall, I’m overcome by a smog of sweat and smoke. From the bar, the venue seemed quite empty, but it is rammed. I fight my way down one side to get a good view of what’s going on, and I’m bombarded with strobe lights and possibly the weirdest image I have ever seen on the stage at the Met. (And I saw 2 Unlimited here!) Electric Six look like a group of middle age 80s lounge rock stars on some greatest hits tour twenty years after their prime. They are all in suits or shirts, they’re sweatier than they should be, with lank hair and look much older than I expected. Despite all this there is something undeniably cool going on.

Swinging from nasty synth pop to full on rock and back to a garage sound with ease; here is a band that have encompassed everything important about rock and pushed it to the limit.

Throughout the set, I’m distracted by some trance like imagery on the screens at each side of the stage; mostly swirling colours but occasionally footage of what appears to be some kind of chimp-men disemboweling people? All very odd!

The biggest surprise of the night is the fact that many of the crowd know the songs despite the album not being out yet and tickets for this show going on sale before 'Danger High Voltage' was released.

With the gig reaching its crescendo, Dick Valentine strips to a 'Sexy and Rich' T-shirt that just says it all. It’s a hard image to describe, but think in the realms of Faith No More, Fun Lovin’ Criminals and AC-DC and you're getting close! In a truly inspired moment, the encore features a crowdpleasing, rocking version of Queen's 'Radio Ga Ga'.

I was a little uncomfortable with the idea of Electric Six prior to this gig. They were good, but a bit odd. I have now been converted. After the show, I met up with Disco (Bass) and Surge Joebot (Guitar) for an interview which can be found here.