By Lisa Burke
November 27th 2015, The Wiltern, Los Angeles CA: Last Friday night I attended my first ever Gogol Bordello concert on their Gypsy Punks: 10 Year Anniversary tour at the Wiltern, and if you are unfamiliar with these gypsy punks they are New Yorkers with some of their roots based in the Ukraine, and of course they have absolutely no shortage of dancing skills. The music is immigrant punk style and it’s chock full of insanities, and witty fun catchy lyrics categorized with high energy cultural jams.
On this night the opening act was soul-filled band Jessica Hernandez and The Deltas. This six-piece used an aclectic mix of instruments including keyboards mixed with trombone, and topped it all off with very tiny-sized frontwoman Jessica Hernandez’ powerful, jazzy, funky, and very soulful vocals. Jessica also portrayed amazingly strong energy that she maintained throughout from start to finish, and her dancing skills are no joke. She ended the lengthy set with a pretty great cover of Kathleen Hanna’s post Bikini Kill band LA Tigre with the song ‘Deceptacon’, and then she purposely collapsed on center stage to finalize and expel the energy she had just put forth. For originating in 2008 and having only one studio album out there called ‘Secret Evil’ which they were able to market by playing on The Late Show With David Letterman, they really have a solid body of work that was very successfully performed live. In my opinion this was the perfect opener for Gogol Bordello, and it was also refreshing to just see two bands each play a well-deserved lengthy set.
I suppose I have moved on to the fashion interlude because during the intermission between the two bands as I traveled around the venue lobby, I became very aware that I was not at a metal show based on the strange attire of some of the audience members. The range went from a full-on navy blue printed flannel pajamas set to a full pink unicorn costume with a pastel rainbow horn. Man buns and lesbians were also in abundance, and of course no matter where you go or what kind of concert you are at, plaid is the new black.
Travelling back into the land of music, Gogol Bordello took the stage at around ten o’ clock and played a highly energetic 90-minute set filled with an indulgence of insanity in the best kind of way. The vibe of this band is so fun and energetic, it’s a dance party from start to finish that even one of the bartenders was showing off his dance moves to. One great aspect of this band is that they have an average of six members who rotate in and out of the songs taking on different roles in each, depending on a song’s specific need. The two main ‘gypsy’ women master the cymbals, marching drum, glorified washboards, and back up vocals all while dancing and wildly running around the stage. Also worthy of a mention is the constant presence of the very talented violinist in the midst of it all which really added extra flavor, as did the use of the occasional accordian. Another jem about Gogol Bordello is the use of two drummers plus bongos. It’s interesting to watch as the second one faces the main one who faces the audience. Brass instruments also appear from time to time to seal the deal, but the highlight of it all is frontman Eugene Hütz with his super-fun lyrics, accented vocals, and his electronically enhanced acoustic guitar. He changed his gypsy-influenced costume quite a few times during all the madness and still found time to play solo acoustic interludes which broke up the chaos quite nicely. Around a third of the way into the set he brought up the fact that one of the songs he had written about the rolling blackout in NYC that occured in 2003. For me, I had a moment of nostalgia since I am a New Yorker who had just jumped ship a few days before and was driving cross-country listening to NPR through Tennessee when I had heard that news. Sometime about midway through or after, they played a big favorite ‘Start Wearing Purple’ and the crowd went wild. Also around this time I felt a hand land on my shoulder and to my amusement and dismay it belonged to a blackout drunk guy who was attempting to speak to me in the finest drunkenese he could. I naturally proceeded to tell him two important rules, 1. Don’t fall over, and 2. Don’t puke on me. He cracked a drunken smile as two security guards pulled him away. I figured he must have had too much of the Russian water also known as Vodka. Shortly after, a mini mosh pit broke out into hipster dance and then I noticed someone in the audience dressed as spiderman. The reference of this clearly went over my head and basically all I knew was that it wasn’t Halloween. Anyway, fans enjoyed all the songs they played from the 2005 album Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike and after ninety minutes of pure fast tempo gypsy punk I was ready to take on the world. Towards the end they also break out into the Pulp Fiction theme song for a bit which is a huge crowd pleaser.
Gogol Bordello was definitely different from the last show I saw at the Wiltern which happened to be King Diamond, yet I had an equally enjoyable experience. These are the ingredients that makes life interesting and worth living, when you can enjoy a variety of good music on a daily basis if you so desire. If you need a boost of punky positivity mixed with chaos, please check out Gogol Bordello.
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