Local H, June 16 at the Troubadour

Noa and I got there about an hour before Local H was supposed to go on, so we could get our tickets from will-call. I thought I saw Scott mulling about outside but he seemed like he was getting tickets and getting in line to go in, and he seemed to be with some chick, so maybe he was just getting tickets for her. I'm not sure if I would have said anything to him anyway, since we were hungry and headed down the street to get something to eat (though we ended up eating at the Troubadour anyway). Inside, before the show at the place, the floor filled up to just about full, but not packed. I don't even think the upstairs bar was open. Local H used to pull a lot more of a crowd, didn't they? Even though they had their big hit (such as it was) 15 years ago. Though the crowd was noticeably older but that was only because there were no teenagers in the crowd (it might have been a 21+ show). Also not a mosh pit until the very last song and even then it wasn't very rough. Maybe it was because of an older crowd, maybe because it was L.A. and people just weren't as interested or didn't want to not look cool. The whole picking-an-album-out-of-a-hat is a fun and inspired idea but it could have been a trick. Their second guitarist, from the opening band, was standing at the back, ready for the first track, before they even picked the album and he wouldn't have had to be there if they didn't know he had to be in on the first song. Though even if they had filled with the name of the one album they wanted to play, they still played a whole album and you probably couldn't go wrong with any of them. Scott offered the pick to some dudes in the front, but first he asked them what album they wanted and the first guy blurted “FUCK YEAH, MAN!” and the second was “This is my first show” and of course Scott could only shake his head. Finally the next guy said he wanted As Good As Dead but picked Here Comes the Zoo and that was A-okay with me. That was EXACTLY the album I wanted them to play and it was AWESOME. I wouldn't say it was note-perfect, since they multi-track a lot of instruments on any of their albums (since they can only do so much with two members in a band), but it was as ferocious as you hear it on CD. I hate to be yet another asshole who says the band will never be the same without Joe, but I've always said that Brian is still a good drummer, and it's fitting that he's great when he's playing an album that he originally played on and probably wrote the drum parts for; it might have been disappointing to see him try to keep up with Joe's original parts on any of the early albums. The opening band, Left Brain Heart, were pretty good, something pretty close to the H, meathead rock leaning toward the Ramones, but with a full four members, and younger (though anyone would be). They helped out Scott and Brian on their set, mostly singing back-up on some tracks; I've never minded Local H having a few extra people on stage when they play, just to make sure the sound is about right, especially for “Manifest Density”, which wouldn't sound right if it wasn't for an augmented band, and that song really needs to rock. After the full album, without taking a break, they did pretty much a greatest-hits set, and I'd say they probably hit every high-note the crowd could want. It may have been the first time in a long time, if ever, that I've heard them do “Bound for the Floor”. That segued into Talking Heads' “Psycho Killer” (which would have been a genius move if I hadn't recently seen the Gossip segue into the same song from one of their own). “High-Fivin' Motherfucker” (which everyone went nuts for (well, okay, maybe just me and Noa)) segued into a long guitar solo and Scott standing at the front of the stage, and I'd swear I heard the song before, maybe a cover of some '70s thing, then he went into another song and I didn't recognize it at first but it turned out to be PJ Harvey's “To Bring You My Love”, which just blew my mind, though he didn't do the whole thing. It was around that time that Scott took a guitar solo into the crowd, though the stage is only about three feet of the ground and the floor is about the size of your living room. And like that, they were done. I'm not sure what more they could have done, unless they were going to do B-sides and more covers (which their website explicitly said they weren't going to do. Despite some asshole in the crowd hollering for “President Forever” and “No [Fuckin'] Fun”, both from an EP. (Okay, that asshole was me. And I would have been just as satisfied if they played that EP for the show)). Though, interestingly, the music that the place played over the P.A. before the band went on included “Tame” and “I Just Wanna Have Something To Do”, which Local H have covered. In any case, one of the rare shows for me where the music and the fun and my drunkenness all met at the exact-same time. And Noa is an awesome concert-going companion.

Local H's set-list:
"Hands on the Bible"
"Half-Life"
"Son of "Cha!"
"5th Ave. Crazy"
"(Baby Wants To) Tame Me"
"Rock & Roll Professionals"
"Keep Your Girlfriend"
"Creature Comforted"
"Bryn-Mawr Stomp"
"What Would You Have Me Do?" (abbreviated)
“Eddie Veddar”
“California Songs”
“White Belt Boys”
“Bound for the Floor”/”Psycho Killer”
“Oh Yeah All Right”
“High-Fivin' Motherfucker”/extended solo/”To Bring You My Love”
“Manifest Density Pt. 2”