RAVE ON

Completely unrelated to St. Patrick's day, I went with friends to see the Raveonettes on Monday.



It was my third time catching them and I was definitely surprised by their new line-up. Previously they played with Sune Wagner on vocals/guitar, Sharin Foo on vocals/bass, this insane lead guitarist and a very bald drummer, plus lots of backing tracks. It always felt a little strange to have a full drummer playing along with so many backing tracks, and the Raveonettes fixed that by scaling back their line-up. Sune and Sharin both played guitar, accompanied only by a new girl on a very minimal drum kit of floor tom, snare, and ride cymbal.

Even if the drummer was a bit superfluous, it worked brilliantly. The songs came across as much more instinctive and visceral. And it was great to see/hear Sharin get into the feedback game with Sune on guitar. Nice to see that this band survived the garage-band craze of the early 00's intact and as virile as ever.



The only problem was NO "BEAT CITY"! That's the perfect set closer. Next time?