gogol bordello

Gogol Bordello was amazing. As Alicia said, they fucking rock! The show started way late. The doors were supposed to open at 8:30 so Georg had gotten a sub for his 8-10 radio show. But the doors didn't actually open until 9:30 and Gogol Bordello didn't take the stage until 11:20.

Tons of XDU DJs were there, and there was a pretty big crowd too. The opening act, Clang Quartet, was one guy and a lot of dissonant noise. Banging things and making feedback. Also he was really into Jesus. He wore a shirt with a giant Jesus face on it, had "Real Men Love Jesus" on his amp (Alicia and I agreed that we were comfortable enough with our womanhood to feel no obligation to love Jesus), and his tamborines were shaped like crucifixes. He played about a half hour but it felt like about five hours. Really, it was awful. Or as Phil more diplomatically put it, avant-garde improvisational percussion just isn't my thing. Georg and I hid in the back by the bar until it was over. Phil told me afterwards that a bunch of hipsters stood up front catcalling the guy and making insulting comments about Jesus. That really pissed me off. I mean, I didn't like the performance either, but his religion had nothing to do with it. Besides, they could have gone outside until he was done. I felt bad that the audience had been so rude, so I went up while he was putting away his equipment, shook his hand and told him that he was great. Actually that was a lie, I found it rather unpleasant, but I felt like he deserved a little appreciation. It took guts for him to stand up there in front of everyone and make all that noise.

Anyway, the show finally started and it was amazing. I got separated from Georg pretty early on, because I was trying to see and ended up moving forward. The only annoying thing was this chick who thought she was slam dancing or something, and kept flinging herself against me. We were about the same height, and one time she whacked me right in the nose with the back of her head. After that, when she shoved into me I just shoved her right back. Fortunately she had friends all over the audience so she kept moving around, and wasn't in my face for too long.

One of the reasons I had wanted to see this show was because last time Gogol Bordello played in the area, I talked to Phil right afterwards (I used to have the show after him on Monday mornings at XDU) and he raved on and on about how amazing it was. Well, he wasn't exaggerating. They played a solid hour and a half. Definitely the highest energy show I've ever seen. I danced on stage! Lead singer Eugene Hutz handed me up onto the stage at the end of the show. (Along with a lot of other people.) Manic is the only way to describe this show. At one point early on, Hutz had an open bottle of vodka which he was pouring on himself. There were these two girls (Georg heard someone call them "pixies" because of these Tyrolean hats they wore) who sometimes danced, sometimes played cymbals and a marching drum, and at one point used slingshots to fire stuff into the crowd.

[Hey, that reminds me, I got one of those things and put it in my pocket. I'm going to go get it and find out what it is. I'm back. It's just a piece of newspaper wrapped up in twine. Nothing inside it. Kind of disappointing.]

If you haven't heard Gogol Bordello, they sound like what if the Clash were from the Ukraine. And if you haven't heard them, go buy their record right now. Or better yet, catch the tour.

I had a splitting headache when we got home, but I took a bunch of Advil and my head feels pretty clear now. My ears have pretty much stopped ringing too. I think I'm going to try going to sleep. Have to get up early and take care of a work thing before driving Lisa to the auto mechanic to pick up 9 Westy. Luckily her mechanic is really near my house. There's a Bojangles right across the street, too. Mmm, biscuits.