Raveonettes/Be Your Own Pet, March 4 at the El Rey

The Raveonettes and Be Your Own Pet aren't two groups that you would normally think go together. I happen to be a fan of both and I would maybe-probably go to see each individually but put them together and it's an essential show. There were a lot of people at the El Rey that were there to see each seperately but I can't imagine there were many people who would have hated the others' music, as disparate as those two groups might be. Be Your Own Pet might have always been an opening band at that kind of venue, only because they can do a full set of their scrappy, teenaged thrash-pop songs, about 20 songs, in less than 30 minutes, but it's a crying shame that Paramore -- who ripped off everything about BYOP (including their home-town) but were more palatable and far less fun -- are big and BYOP aren't. The Raveonettes play '50s/'60s-retro surf-sex rock and not much fun (compared to BYOP) but it's well-crafted and seductive and entrancing. So if you think of it as seeing two really great bands quite possibly at their peak at this moment, then they absolutely fit for a great show. It was shortly after that that BYOP broke up and, one of my great regrets, that was the one time I got to see them, even sadder because I got even more into them after that. In any case, Vanessa went with me to that show since she's a Raveonettes fan but I couldn't quite get her into BYOP.

The Raveonettes' set-list:
"Hallucinations"
"Dead Sound"
"That Great Love Sound"
"Let's Rave On"
"Lust"
"Red Tan"
"Love In A Trashcan"
"Expelled From Love"
"Attack of the Ghost Riders"
"You Want The Candy"
"Black Satin"
"Blush"
"French Disko"
"'Aly, Walk With Me"