Yeah Yeah Yeahs Concert Report

Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Echo Beach July 1 2013

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs were the perfect Canada Day celebration despite their somewhat short set and lack of Canadianness. They blew away the opening band, Maximum Hedrum, who were one of the worst bands I've ever seen. They are an electro-funk group headed by Spike Jonze's brother, Sam Spiegel, who produces the YYYs second album. Other than a slightly amusing song about hugs, their set was filled with lame, one-note jokes and bad songs. Also irritating were their attempts to get the audience hyped about their terrible music. Oh, nepotism!

After that, expectations were fairly low for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. While they have a good live reputation, their new record Mosquito was only so-so with a few really good songs. They opened with a track from that album "Under the Earth", which was a bit low key as an opener. The set improved dramatically with their second song "Black Tongue" where singer Karen O cut loose with her distinctive howl. They had a good mix of songs from their four albums, with the most songs coming from their first album. They played the two songs I most wanted to hear: "Heads Will Roll" and "Date with the Night." The latter song was extended considerably for their second encore. In total, they played sixteen songs, which was a bit brief but still satisfying.

The band was in good form musically. They played about half the songs as the core three-piece of Karen O, guitarist Nick Zinner and drummer Brian Chase. Nick Zinner is an excellent guitarist with a heavy and unique style while Brian Chase has a powerful drum sound. On the rest of the songs they were joined by David Pajo, formerly of Slint and Zwan. Karen O is a hugely charismatic and energetic performer, despite her limitations as a singer. She gave the mic to members of the crowd to sing along as well as at one point putting the mic in her mouth and down her pants. She wore a huge light on her head for the first few songs. In a subtle nod to Canada Day, she came on stage carrying a little Canadian flag.