Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ First Ave. . . . . . . . . I Was There!

By Andy Bresnahan

I went to a concert at the legendary First Avenue Night Club in downtown Minneapolis on Tuesday night with my roommates and I thought I would share my experience/thoughts with y’all. The band on the ticket was Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Perhaps you have heard of them, but I have been familiar with the band only in the past few months. I am unaware of what inspired the unorthodox mouthful that is their band name, but I don’t let it bother me when people ask who the eff is that?

BRMC comes to us from somewhere on the west coast even though they’ve found most of their commercial success in the UK. They were co-founded by their two front-men shortly after high school. The current drummer didn’t join until later on. They have released four full length albums including the new one, “Baby 81”. They kick out a brand of bluesy, guitar driven rock n roll that doesn’t sound like the main stream garbage we all are forced to ignore these days. “Baby 81” has received mixed reviews, most claiming their previous release “Howl” captures their true appeal. I would agree with that so far, “Baby 81” does have a higher dose of the slow stuff, but I will give it a couple more listens. I came to the show with a good sample of their stuff on my itunes and thought it was all about average. Nothing to get really excited about but good enough to see at First Ave.

Opening act was some struggling cookie-cutter modern rock band that lasted just long enough for me to drink two very large coronas and find a nice spot on the main floor. Three songs into BRMC set I found myself very impressed with the energy and stage presence they present. The studio recordings did most of the songs little justice. They really put on a good show.

It is a shame Newton’s 3^rd law of motion did not apply however. The crowd did not respond with nearly as much intensity. In fact when one guitar/singer requested house lights for a song (dumb idea) I looked around and felt like everyone was watching a car crash.

One could argue this had an effect on the chosen set list. This is the first concert I’ve been to that I didn’t hear my favorite song. In fact, when I got home I realized there were several rockin’ tunes they should have played. It frustrated me they wasted time with 3 acoustic solo songs in a row but what do expect with a Tuesday night in Minnesota… Don’t get me wrong, I like it when a band can be dynamic and hit you in the face with a powerful psychedelic finale then come back and do an acoustic ballad. It’s like someone who gets you stinking shitfaced but then sticks around to help you puke later. It’s good stuff, but please keep the limit at 2 in row, otherwise you leave people wondering what happened to their rock show.

All in all I’d say I became a bigger fan of BRMC after seeing them live. I can’t say my opinion really means anything but I encourage you to check them out. I guess this blog entry wont really spark any hot debates but I figure all of you are into rockin’ out just like me so here ya go. Anyone else see a show lately?

for more info and to hear BRMC, visit their myspace page or their official website