Living Things reviewed

Living Things
Schubas, Chicago
Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Anyone else think Schubas was a weird place for Living Things to play? Judging by the sparse turnout — roughly half the club’s 200-or-so capacity — few people even thought about coming to the show, let alone the awkward band/venue match up.

Awkward because of Living Things’ reputation as hellraisers. Not whiskey-chugging (the band members opted for sips of red wine during the set), groupie-bopping, pass-out-wasted hellraisers, mind you, but stubborn, politically charged, outspoken hellraisers. Their 2003 debut, Black Skies In Broad Daylight, was stamped shit-hot by rock critics, but never released by Geffen — a move the band attribute to the label’s fear of post 9-11 backlash. Frontman Lillian Berlin is, after all, notorious for burning pictures of George W. Bush onstage and he even earned a pistol whipping after slamming Dubya at a Texas gig.

Not exactly the kind of singer-songwriter/hip indie acts that usually play the subdued Schubas. Maybe Living Things let themselves be seduced by the venue’s cozy safety initially, because the anger, provocativeness, and danger behind early numbers like “I Owe” and “No New Jesus” were absent. The rebel manifesto buried in the lyrics “Patted down and we’re black and blue/patted down we’ll pray for you/we’re gonna win the war/that’s what you kids are for,” could be heard on “Bombs Below” but not seen in the band’s (also including bassist Eve Berlin, drummer Bosh Berlin, guitarist Cory Becker) wooden and apathetic stage presence.

By midset, though, the band came alive as if Dick Cheney himself had walked in the room. There were no Bush burnings, and only a bit of banter was aimed at the administration — rabble-rousing Eve did blatantly ignore the posted smoking ban, though. Maybe a product of older brother’s directions to “Ignore them orders” during “God Made Hate”? — but “End Gospel” and especially “March In Daylight” boiled with the same raw energy they do on Ahead Of The Lions. Lillian, a magnetic, slithering, swaying frontman with a commanding voice, informed the crowd he once called Chicago home and dedicated “On All Fours” –about police brutality — to the Chicago Police, who he “shares a special love for.” The band’s forceful MC5-meets-The Clash-meets-Guns N’ Roses rock dominated the night, but their repertoire also included hazy mellow numbers like “New Year” and “Keep It ‘Til You Fold.” Lillian likely wrote the lyrics “I can’t drink but can drive a tank at 19/so I set off to join the U.S. Army” from “Bom Bom Bom” with a message in mind, but Becker’s slinky guitar and Bosh’s marching beat convinced a group of women near the stage to dance, proving, we guess, Living Things can make an impression despite the environment.

If Living Things were out of place at the club then openers The Vacation were like vegetarians at a Texas barbecue. Sleazy and obnoxious, these Hollywood natives tried far too hard to fit the image of the typical boozy hard rockers their hometown has made famous. Frontman Ben Tegel had plenty of moves for the ladies (especially one particular female fan whom he worked after the show almost as hard as he did while onstage), but they all belong to Steven Tyler, Mick Jagger, and Jim Morrison. The anthemic quality of “White Noise” and “Destitute Prostitutes” was impressive, but watching bassist Eric “Dutch” Suoninen spend the entire set hamming it up for photographers with a barrage of music video poses (flipping the bird, aiming his bass like a gun at the camera) was unbearable, like when your shit-faced friend tries dancing with the hottest girl in the club — embarrassing to everyone but him.

— Trevor Fisher

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly