The Black Lips preview

The Black Lips
Logan Square Auditorium, Chicago
Friday, September 28, 2007

A couple years ago, The Black Lips seemed like Johnny-come-latelys on the Nuggets-revival bandwagon, and yet they stuck with it long enough to parlay it into part of their success. Part.

Having never seen The Black Lips live — much less every time they’ve performed — we don’t want to talk about what has been done a handful of times, only for dear readers to turn up and be let down. Nudity? Piss? Chickens?

So it boils down to the rock ‘n’ roll, and for that we turn to their latest, Good Bad Not Evil (Vice). “O Katrina!” harkens to that standby of standbys, Them’s “Gloria,” which is somehow connected to making light of New Orleans’ plight. Ramping up the intensity the way their heroes The Sonics would, Black Lips add an acidic guitar line to nearly every track to shred their precious analog recording and suggest, “Imagine what this is like when you’re right in front of us.” “Navajo” is a burnt out sea-shanty-in-mind paean to a heartbreakin’ indie girl and WASPish garage antics continue with Doors R&B (“Lock And Key”), electric country (“How Do You Tell A Child That Someone Has Died”), and junkies-on-“Runaround Sue” (“Bad Kids”) — all half-assed, contrary to their velocity on tour and stage.

For those old enough to remember 2002, it might not quite cut it. Now if there were some chickens and naked dudes . . . and firecrackers and blood . . .

The Selmanaires will open.

— Kevin Keegan

Click here to download “Cold Hands.”

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly