Black Rebel Motorcycle Club in Concert- Charlotte, NC

[Guest Review - Dentist]
BRMC, Visulite Theater. Charlotte, NC April 22, 2008 - A

What do you get when you mix three guys clad in all black, enough guitar feedback and fuzz to split your ears wide open and a row of strobe lights to send even the most stoic into epileptic seizure all packed into a small 400 person venue? One of the most amazing shows I’ve ever witnessed and confirmation of what I already knew that Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is one of the premiere rock bands on the planet. The band epitomizes rock-n-roll “cool” with an understated swagger that compliments their image and underscores the brilliant music they write. Part Johnny Cash, part Oasis, part The Verve and a sprinkle of The Doors, BRMC are an amalgam of the cool unpretentious, almost reluctant rock stars that truly embody what rock-n-roll is and should be. And they don’t just look the part. Over the last eight years they have consistently put out quality, uncompromising music that has regularly been featured by Q Magazine, Rolling Stone, Spin and NME publications on numerous “Best Of” lists. More recently, they released “Baby 81”, their fourth offering, in 2007 and the EP “American X: Baby 81 Sessions” shortly thereafter, both of which were a return to a more electric bluesy/punk sound that bookends 2005’s acoustic “Howl” very nicely. Click below for the rest of the review.

The Visulite Theater was the venue for their latest stop on the current tour and it served the music well. The theater is small, intimate and adorned with heavy, lush velvety tapestry on the walls and a gently sloping tri-level layout that makes viewing the small stage from just about any position perfect and unobstructed. I arrived and took a position on the “floor” level about 8-10 feet from the stage to secure a good spot, plus I really was anxious to hear the opening band The Duke Spirit, a UK band fronted by the enigmatic Leila Moss, who has received positive reviews for their latest offering “Neptune” and a growing surge of a fan base. The band was pretty tight with a good, albeit short, set; favorites included “This Ship Was Made to Last” and “Sovereign”. But l was there to see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and after a brief stage setup change, the guys came onto the stage amidst a flurry of the aforementioned strobe lights and launched into a blistering version of 666 Conducer that finished with a haze of guitar feedback. Robert Levon Been, Peter Hayes and Nick Jago are larger than life figures and seemed all the more so silhouetted against the pale yellow lights behind them as they held the last note.
Not wasting any time on idle banter, they launched into a selection of songs from “Baby 81” and 2003’s “Take Them On, On Your Own”. Songs like “Took Out a Loan”, “Weapon of Choice”, “In Like the Rose” and “Six Barrel Shotgun” were all delivered with a veracity that grabs hold of you and doesn’t let go (I don’t know how, but Peter Hayes creates this amazing, screeching wall of sound with his guitar that just sounds amazingly good). Welcomed inclusions included a new song called “The River Styx”, which has been featured frequently at other stops on the tour and my favorite song by any band right now and probably one of BRMC’s top 5 songs ever, “20 Hours”. It is a throwback to the early 90’s British music scene and is the perfect shoegaze song as good as or better than the Stone Roses or Oasis ever did it.

The band then played through several songs from “Howl”, which translate amazingly well live. The guitar, percussion and vocals were spot on on “Ain’t No Easy Way” and “Shuffle Your Feet”. One of my favorite parts of the show was an acoustic selection of songs done by Peter and an acoustic guitar (and a couple of times a harmonica). BRMC write all of their own songs, but Peter is often credited as being at least the guitar genius, if not the lyrical one as well, of the group. His voice is amazing, wiser beyond his years, dripping at times with an earnestness rarely heard in music today and the acoustic set brought into focus his amazing talents. Not to be outdone, Robert was flawless on guitar, at times wielding it like a shotgun taking aim at the audience and at one point making his way onto the floor to play amidst those lucky enough to cram in alongside him (oh, yeah---he can sing really well too).

Some of BRMC’s most well-known songs like “Love Burns” and “Whatever Happened to My Rock n Roll?” sounded really fresh and segued perfectly into a rapturous encore that included songs heavily leaned towards the bands self-titled debut “B.R.M.C.”. “Red Eyes and Tears” just absolutely shook the walls as well as my heaving chest cavity and when the last note was played I looked down at my watch to find that they had played almost a two and a half hour set.

After the show I hung around just a bit and was lucky enough to meet Peter after he emerged from backstage to talk with fans and sign autographs and he is without a doubt one of the most cordial, well-mannered guys I’ve ever met. I told him where I had seen BRMC several times before and he recounted names of venues and opening bands like he was reciting days of the week. I thanked him for a great show and came away even more impressed than I was before. These guys are the real deal and in my opinion are one of the most under-rated, yet unbelievably great bands out there today. It’s nice to see a rock-n-roll band with no pretentions, no over-produced songs and no disaffected singer with a high pitched, fairy-like warble of a voice. Unbelievable show. Go and buy their music and turn…it…up…loud!