Electric Six, November 11 at the Key Club

Why yes, I'll see the Electric Six every time I possibly can. This time Vanessa went along. I don't know if she was really a fan of the band from before then or if she just wanted to go to drink but we had a great time. It was a show that I've seen before but, man, I could see that show once a week and never get tired of it. The band is tight, honed sharp from years on the road playing clubs like this, and Dick Valentine might be the best frontman currently alive, if you're into that kind of music, kind of heavy metal-disco with tongue planted in cheek. All of that is fine with me. It's a good combination and one that's hard to pull off, especially with any consistency. As big of a fan as I am I won't say that every single album of theirs is genius but they know what their best songs are and they always put on a good show. It also doesn't hurt that their songs are short and it seems like they play for hours when they really just have an hour and a half or so like anyone else. However, this night was a bit different. The band put on another great performance and I think Vanessa was converted to a fan, if she hadn't been already. The song they sandwiched between “stop” and “continue” in “Improper Dancing” that night was INXS' “Never Tear Us Apart” which was performed more playfully than INXS ever did but still a lot more serious than the Electric Six usually are (which is part of doing the song on a goof). The band did an encore ("the 'Dance' trilogy" as Dick noted) and left the stage and the house music came on and the crowd started to leave but for some reason the lights didn't come on and the roadies weren't clearing the band's gear. We hung around for a bit, just to see if anything would happen, and Percussion World even passed by us and I asked if they were going to do more and he said that he wished they could but they couldn't and I told him that they weren't clearing the stage then it was like he remembered something and hurried back backstage. A few of the members of the band wandered back on stage like they were going to get something going, Dick had even taken off his suit and put on a T-shirt (that said “Don't taze me, bro”) but they just didn't start back up. We stuck around for a few more minutes then decided it was late enough and took off. We even asked the bouncer if the band was going to play more and he said to not bet on it. Vanessa and I left the place and crossed the street to where we parked and only by the greatest coincidence looked back into the Key Club and saw the band back on stage. We rushed across the street and back into the place and the band kicked back into it again. Most of the crowd was gone but the Electric Six doesn't need a packed house to melt faces. Dick announced they would play “five more songs, one for each member of the band” (except himself, obviously), though I don't know if those songs corresponded to individual members of the band. And play they did, rolling out probably the rest of the songs they usually play on tour but had rotated out for this night's performance. We ended up getting most of Fire that night and some extras. I'm not usually confident that Electric Six shows can top the awesomeness that they always are but that night they certainly were. They went above and beyond. And I'll be there next time to see them play as well.

Electric Six's set-list:
I thought the first song was off the new album but the vocals were really low in the mix early in the show and I couldn't make out the lyrics better than "listen" and "said" and I couldn't find the song on Google and I didn't remember it when I listened to the album again trying to find it
"Dirty Ball"
"Down at McDonnelzz"
"Jimmy Carter"
"Egyptian Cowboy"
"Improper Dancing"/"Never Tear Us Apart"
"Danger! High Voltage"
"Slices of You"
"Body Shot"
"Formula 409"
"Steal Your Bones"
"Gay Bar"
"Gay Bar Part 2"
"You're Bored"
"I Buy the Drugs"
"We Were Witchy Witchy White Women"

"Dance Pattern"
"Dance Epidemic"
"Dance Commander"

"Techno"
"Naked Pictures"
"Randy's Hot Tonight!"
some song about raining lies and forty days and forty nights
"Getting into the Jam"