Friday, May 02, 2008

The Hold Steady; The Virgins @ Webster Hall

The Hold Steady; The Virgins; Republic Tigers; Bad Veins
@ Webster Hall
New York, NY - May 2, 2008

This was the second consecutive Hold Steady show that was part of a special corporate event, in this case a Target sponsored showcase as part of the Tribeca Film Festival. THS served as the celebratory nightcap for what seemed to be a battle of the bands. Taking it easy on the new material, and serving up delectable renditions of their usuals as well as songs like "Multitude of Casualties" and "How A Resurrection Really Feels", Craig and the boys were in fine form.

The Virgins are the latest in the long of line blog-buzz-hype bands and guess what? They actually lived up to said hype. If the Strokes and the Cars had a baby, this would be it. They were fun, sprightly, colorful, and full of pep. They also join the Dirtbombs as the second band this year to cover INXS' "Devil Inside".

Remember a few years ago when a lot of bands had the word "republic" in their name? And a handful had "tigers"? Well these guys may be a bit behind in hipster etymology (maybe "Republic Bears" and "Republic Wolves" were already taken) but they've tapped into cacophonous indie pop rather...well? Some of it worked, most of it didn't. They also need to lighten up a bit.

Bad Veins also had a little bit of a Strokes thing going on. If only in that the lead singer of this odd duo used a bullhorn and an old telephone to get that Casablancas singing style down. But these Cinci kids were more like the Republic Tigers than the Virgins, and they were even a little bit more out of it than said Republic Tigers and yet somehow they won $10,000 out of this event.

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