Thank you, Scott Weiland. Thank you for needing to take a few days off of your Stone Temple Pilots reunion tour to do whatever it is that you do between playing casinos and radio station festivals, allowing your opening act, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, to sneak quietly into our town for an intimate evening of blowing our minds. Sold out before most people even knew it was happening, the return of BRMC was a two-hour-plus barrage of treats thrown to an eager fanbase, proving that you don’t need a brand new album or a bunch of media hoo-ha to create a monstrous buzz.
Dedicating the first track, “666 Conducer” from their 2007 release Baby 81, to the “lost souls” in the room, the trio kicked things off rather gently with their trademark aloof grooves. Behind the smoke and red lights you could see that drummer Nick Jago had once again flown the coop — this time replaced by the mighty Leah Shapiro, formerly of Dead Combo and The Raveonettes’ live band. Peter Hayes (guitar) and Robert Levon Been (bass) took their customary turns on lead vocals on furious versions of two more tracks from Baby 81, “Berlin” and “Weapon of Choice” featuring such sloganeering choruses as “Suicide’s easy! What happened to the revolution?” and “I won’t waste my love on a nation!”
Although offering gems from all their recordings, including “Stop” from Take Them On On Your Own and “Aint No Easy Way” from the acoustic Howl, it was “White Palms” from their self-titled 2001 debut that pushed the limits of the Mod Club’s powerful sound system. And if you couldn’t quite make out a single word Robert said between tunes — or sometimes during them — the experience never suffered for it. Call it rock ‘n’ roll impressionism, the audience filling in the details while completely enraptured by the fuzzy wall of light and sound. The band still channel their adolescent Jesus & Mary Chain fixations quite well, though they're much better tempered when things go wrong: after a false start for “In Like the Rose” the band blasted back in top form. An extended version of “Heart + Soul” later elicited both body surfing and making out from those in front. It would have made a perfect climax... except BRMC continued to play for another hour! There was their acoustic mini-set, complete with Dylan cover, (a.k.a. the bathroom break) a new and unreleased track, “River Styx” (a.k.a. their take on “Personal Jesus”) and a raucous close-out with the song that kicked things off for them all those years ago, “Whatever Happened to My Rock ‘n’ Roll.” The answer, gentlemen (and lady), is that you just brought it back. Thanks!