W.A.S. at Bowery Ballroom

In a sold out Bowery Ballroom, the W.A.S. took the stage to a very eager crowd that, from their cheers, I could gauge they were pretty pumped. Where did all these fans come from? Oh, that’s right. Now that they’ve graduated to headlining Bowery, I was excited for them. They opened up with five or six of their best songs, and like in December played several back-to-back, which in its execution is thrilling. The problem arose, however, when they ran out of fuel -ie: good material- around halfway through the set.

Since they aren’t playing the Tank anymore, they had to play for 50-60 minutes, and they just ran out of the good stuff. I think they should resurrect some of the better tunes from their EPs to fill out the set. Ode to Star L23 anyone? Yes, I actually got bored for a few songs, and that cover they did was uninspiring. Feel free to do a cover, but add the touches that make your sound yours… even if “your sound” isn’t necessarily “your sound.” (I’ve never had a problem with derivative sounds, because, hell, W.A.S. do it quite well.)

So while the show was front-loaded (much like the album is, by the way), they closed with The Great Escape, and the crowd woke up so startled that the place literally exploded. Or figuratively exploded, whatever. There were explosions abound. It was dramatic and intense, so much so that the band didn’t plan an encore (that’s what Keith said and I believe him), yet they came out anyway and played one more. In my mind, I'm ignoring that encore, and having it end in my memory one song earlier.

J Heartonastick has an opinion that is well-stated, although he criticizes things I didn’t pick up on at all. He has probably some of the most intelligent things ever said about the band. His conclusion:

But something has to be popular, and it might as well be this. It’s disposable, but solidly constructed and unassuming. If you were so inclined, you could call We Are Scientists derivative, or useless, or insincere. They were probably called worse in high school. But having this stuff come so effectively, likeably packaged is a hell of a lot better than wading through an acre of shit.

True, J., true. Angela wrote to me today:
Oh man, I've never really listened to the Killers before until they came up in my shuffle today. They are not really very good, huh? Are they like a parody band or something? Their sound is so mediocre to my ears. If they can be big, then WAS deserves superstardom.