Shows Reviewed: Viva Voce, Okkervil River, YYY's, Kooks, 120 Days

10-12 Viva Voce @ Bowery Ballroom
Viva Voce [website/myspace] has been on my mind since January when I cam upon "Wrecking Ball" and "Alive with Pleasure." When their new album came out, I gave it an eager listen. Nearly as solid as those older two songs, Get Yr Blood Sucked Out really rocks in concert. They are a duo with the guy on drums and the woman on guitar [another joined them on bass but since this is a duo band, we'll ignore that]. When they came out, they fed us fruit. Very tasty. They played a short version of "We Do Not Fuck Around" early and then did a reprise later on. I wish more bands did this. In the past few hundreds of shows I've seen I cannot remember a single reprise. Sure, some bands full-out repeat songs for lack of material, but that's not the same thing. If I was in a band [not just the theoretical kind], I'd play my Big Hit early and then slide from a later song back into 30 seconds of that Big Hit. Imagine how glorious that'd be!
Viva Voce - We Do Not Fuck Around [mp3]
Viva Voce - When Planets Collide [mp3]

10-14 Okkervil River, Elvis Perkins @ Bowery Ballroom
A little worried how Elvis Perkins would translate to a sold out Bowery crowd, my fears were quickly displaced as they easily won over a fairly attentive audience. I've seen him a few hundreds of times -at least- and this was one of the best. Okkervil River came out and once again dominated with a long rocking set of all my favorites. Will Sheff promised -like he always does- a "completely new set of material" the next night, but I wonder what was left that was worth it.

Spin.com reports from the Atlanta show, and asked attendees: "Given that Elvis Perkins' father is classic actor Anthony Perkins, we want to know, if you could have a famous father, who would it be?" Guess what this guy said. Go on. Guess. Hint: Check his shirt. [Answer at bottom] But that wasn't even the best response. That award goes to the guy who said, "Whoever is Paris Hilton's father." So you, ummm, wanna screw your sister?

10-18 TV on the Radio @ Irving Plaza
Review Here.

10-19 Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Bowery Ballroom
With the crowd licqoured up, Nick Zinner got the Bowery show he didn't get last time around. Rollingstone was celebrating something -an anniversary of a few hundred years- and we pumped our fists in approval as Karen O delighted and wooed. This time we knew the lyrics to the new -well, now not so new- material, and could let loose. The highlight [other than the incredible amount of smiles and energy Ms. O emits] came after a few ambient minutes of intro in Maps; Karen stopped the song dead and had Nick switch guitars to play it acoustically.
-Productshop was there as well.

10-23 The Kooks @ Bowery Ballroom
Wavering on actually attending this show, I decided it would be at least worth the $10 admission. And it was. I do mostly like a handful of their songs. The crowd sang back all the lyrics which in my mind recalled last year's invasion of the A'Monks, but this year's model lacks the aloofness I find so appealing in Alex Turner. The Kooks aren't innovative enough to make a lasting impression, but at least they're a decent one night stand.

10-23 120 Days @ Fontana's
Either they started their set with their crappiest songs, or by the end I had enough beer in me to not care. They have potential but for the moment are uneven.