By Avinash Mittur
March 8th 2012, The Avalon, Hollywood CA: Andrew W.K. can best be described as a deceptively complex mad man. Those who only know his anthem to good times, Party Hard, tend to ascertain that he just a one hit wonder who couldn’t maintain his success because of his lyrical and musical obsession with partying and loud, boisterous rock and roll.
His more hardcore fans only wish it was that simple. A quick search of the phrase “Andrew W.K. Steev Mike” is a great way to start digging yourself into the endless hole of conspiracy theories surrounding his identity, his management and even the U.S. government. There’s also his amazingly convoluted discography, which contains many random singles, albums released only in Asia, and even an experimental improvisatory piano record. His side jobs of motivational speaking and hosting a Cartoon Network game show seem to only confound matters further. Simply put, the more you get into Andrew W.K., the more likely you are to be utterly confused and flabbergasted at this inane enigma of an artist.
Despite his amazingly wacky history, one thing is certain; the album I Get Wet is one the best hard rock albums of the last decade. The album stripped down rock music to a musical simplicity not seen since The Ramones first albums (with the lyrical maturity to match that legendary group as well). On this tour, Andrew performs the album in its entirety along with other tracks from his career. Andrew and his band gave a great show to a solid mass of adoring fans, and his show is definitely not one to be missed if one has the opportunity to attend.
The first act, Math the Band, was than up to the task of warming the crowd up. The duo, guitarist Kevin Steinhauser and keyboardist Justine Mainville, gave the sparse number of early birds a version of alternative rock infused with 8-bit videogame sounds and happy vocal melodies. Surprisingly, much of the music came from backing tapes- the tapes played the drum track and the videogame loops, while Justine would bang on a floor tom while singing and playing her keys. Their songs seemed to last only a couple minutes each; the band had blown through over ten tracks by the time their thirty minute set was over. Both Justin and Kevin were hyperactive presences on stage, with the two often jumping and dancing about. The audience seemed to appreciate the set, with the band drawing a solid applause upon the conclusion of their set.
After about half an hour, the crowd grew exponentially, and packed the floor of the Avalon. For an artist with only one truly successful album to his name, this was a surprising turnout, and ultimately contributed to a greater show. At nine o’clock precisely, the intro tape played over the P.A., and one of the band’s guitarists came out to play an extended version of the intro to It’s Time to Party. The rest of the band slowly joined in (featuring not one, not two, not even three, but four guitarists) and when Andrew himself came out to yell the first words, the crowd erupted into a sea of jumping bodies, dancing, and something resembling a circle pit. This audience came to have a good time, and they certainly had one if their nonstop activity throughout the set was any indication.
Party Hard, the second song of the set, drew a rapturous reception from the crowd, perhaps the most enthusiastic of the night. The audience seemed to know every word of the song, and scores of fists were raised to the air for the song’s chorus. The entire performance of I Get Wet was a huge amount of fun to see and hear. Although the crowd was active for the entire main set, Party Hard, She Is Beautiful and I Get Wet’s title track seemed to draw the biggest reception. Really, the entire performance was wonderful; the energy never seemed to stop flowing from the band.
Even though Andrew’s band seemed a bit over the top in terms of the membership, the songs sounded eerily close to their studio counterparts when it came to the instrumentals. The four guitar wall of noise managed to successfully recreate the endlessly tracked and processed production of I Get Wet, while backing vocalist/Andrew’s wife Cherie Pourtabib managed to hold her own in the vocal department. Her clearer and generally less strident voice was a great contrast to Andrew’s rougher delivery. Andrew himself was as insane as one could expect him to be, running all about the stage, headbanging away and bashing his keyboard to oblivion when he could.
Even though the performance of I Get Wet was certainly unbelievably enjoyable, one couldn’t help but feel that the main set was padded out. Somehow, the performance of this 35 minute album managed to translate to an hour long set. There were a few relatively long breaks between the songs in which Andrew would utter a few non-sequiturs, and after Take It Off, Andrew performed a strange guitar solo consisting of a couple of random riffs and a series of off-notes and stretches of feedback. Whether this is was a nod towards his more avant-garde tendencies of recent years or simply another display of his madness escapes me.
After the closing notes of Don’t Stop Living in the Red, the band took a comically short encore break and returned to play a string of tracks from Andrew’s second album, The Wolf. It was obvious that the audience preferred Andrew’s higher energy material- even though they moved a bit for the songs, it was nothing compared to the frenzy that they delivered for I Get Wet. The energy returned however, for yet another of Andrew’s signature songs, We Want Fun. This saw plenty of crowdsurfing and moshing, with one fan managing to land on stage near the end. Andrew gave him the mic to scream his heart out, and even hoisted the fan on his shoulders. This was an awesome display of the rapport Andrew clearly has with his fans, and was one of the highlights of the whole set. Andrew and his band finally capped off the night with a new track, Head Bang. The song initially sounded like a return to I Get Wet’s lyrical and musical simplicity, but this was soon overturned by a thrash metal break that summoned a circle pit worthy of a Slayer concert. With a final breakdown that had many a head flinging up and down, the band finished their 85 minute show and left the stage for the last time.
This was an overall very enjoyable show, but there were a couple of issues. First, the ticket price, thirty dollars, was a little steep for a set that didn’t go beyond an hour and a half. Andrew W.K. certainly has enough material for a full set, and the written setlist even had two tracks from his third release, Close Call with Brick Walls, that were omitted from the show. Second, as I mentioned earlier, the set felt obviously padded out at times. Even though the set was eighteen songs long, it really only translated to an hour of music, and about twenty minutes of downtime or random shenanigans from Andrew. This show was an absolute blast to be a part of, but fixing these minor issues could have made it perfect. If the price is within reason, then this tour is not to be missed. Chances are, you’ll be guaranteed an amazingly fun night from the lord of the party himself, Andrew W.K.
Rating: 8.5/10
Setlist:
- It’s Time to Party
- Party Hard
- Girls Own Love
- Ready to Die
- Take It Off
- I Love NYC
- She Is Beautiful
- Party Till You Puke
- Fun Night
- Got To Do It
- I Get Wet
- Don’t Stop Living In The Red
Encore
- Victory Strikes Again
- Long Live the Party
- Never Let Down
- Totally Stupid
- We Want Fun
- Head Bang
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