beverly tender / lunch cult 31-05-2016
trumbullplex, detroit
i wasn't able to get footage of the show, and rather than present a narrative (which would not be very interesting), i've decided that it's better to just point out some of the things that confused me to the point where i avoided footage.
to begin with, i really wasn't expecting a keyboard player. the samples suggested that the band was operating roughly somewhere in the space of the pixies, with a bit of an odd sense of humour - think butthole surfers, maybe. there was no hint of keyboards, whatsoever. so, when they came on and started playing some kind of love song, i actually thought it was a different band and nearly went out for a smoke, instead. but, i found the drumming a little bit interesting, so i came back in.
i'm not sure why they played the set they did, but the drumming largely saved it. the drummer had a tendency to go into contextless temper tantrums, like a bad caricature of animal from the muppet show. see, here's the thing: i know my phil collins. well. even when the rest of the band was being ironic or stupid (there was a confluence of ironic into stupid, here), listening to the phil emulation was worthwhile.
otherwise, i wish i would have realized what i was going to see. i would not have paid customs and then brought booze to detroit to see what i actually saw, which was operating on some kind of level of satire in a way that summed to a gigantic waste of time. they did a few tracks that were recognizable, but most of the set was actually done in the form of a parody of a crooner band. the bulk of it was purposefully lame lyrics, sung purposefully out of key over purposefully bad music. you could have told me you were going to do that before hand, guys. i would have saved the cash for something else. jerks.
i would normally say something like "it's worth the $5.". i will very rarely dissuade somebody from seeing something i've taken the time to go to. by trying to be ironic, and just ending up being really stupid, lunch cult have earned my rare ire to the point of an active non-rec. save your money, don't go to the show.
that said, i have to point out that i didn't have a terrible time. i mean, i would not have gone to the show if i know what it was going to be - i've stated that twice now, and i want to be clear of it. but, i'm not easily confused, either, and they managed to spin me around pretty good. is this really them? do two of the bands have the same members? are they combining sets?
it was nothing like that: they were just taking the piss. and, piss taken. but with a consequence: not recommended. at all.
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the other bands weren't particularly memorable. i barely recall what the beverly tenders sounded like, other than thinking it was a little better than i was expecting due to some thick guitar effects work. the last thing that came on was literally karaoke.