If there is one band you must see live, it is Go Go Gadjet. I don’t usually go out of my way for cover bands but there is something so different about Gadjet. Their high energy performance, song selection, and love for making the crowd have a good time is something that goes unsurpassed on a weekend evening. If you are anywhere on the east coast, there is a good chance you will get the opportunity to see them this summer at a bar or club near you.

This past weekend they played two nights in a row close enough for me to attend both: one in Philly and one in Reading, PA. And just as GGG’s lead singer Jeff said to me in the crowd, “Two nights in a row. Stellar.” Stellar indeed. Gadjet is a 5 piece band with more than one multi-instrumentalist and they make every use of that to put on the show.

I guess the question is where I start about these guys. My first experience seeing Go Go Gadjet was actually at a charity event about 2-2.5 years ago where they played to nearly 15,000 people in an arena. I was immediately sold. They owned that stage and I have been going to see them live ever since.

One of my favorite parts of GGG is how they stay on top of the music scene. Just this weekend, they performed B.o.B.’s “Nothin’ On You” and Train’s “Hey Soul Sister,” relatively new songs that I would assume most bands aren’t covering yet.

Of course, it’s not only the modern music they play. Their sets consist of the newest as well as some of the party classics like Smash Mouth’s “All Star.” And yes I did say sets, plural. Gadjet plays somewhere between 3-4 hours every night they are on stage.

I feel as though words can’t quite describe the good time I have when I see them. I’d like to say I could choose my favorite part of the night but I can’t. Between Jeff, Tony, and Nate all doing leads vocals on different songs; Tony playing sax; Chris’ flawless guitar performance; Baldwin “playing more notes than humanly possible” on drums; the band’s Stomp-like routine with garbage cans; and the overall energy of the night makes for an awesome time. It always helps that Gadjet performs Ludacris’ “Whats Your Fantasy?” (one of my favorites) as well as a number of Lady Gaga songs to really get the crowd going.

On top of all that, they’re just great guys who are sociable and will always take time to talk to their fans. I’ve been fortunate enough to hold short conversations with Jeff and Nate, and Tony and Baldwin have been unfortunate enough to see me do the Stanky Leg between sets in Philly.

Overall, it was a great weekend and I plan on seeing them again next Saturday. And you should too. Their upcoming tour schedule is available here and posted below are two videos: one is their 2010 promotional video and the other is a live performance. Looking for something to do on weekend? Check em out. You won’t be disappointed.

Like I said to Jeff, “What’s better than drinking and Gadjet?”

“Nothin’ else I can think of.” – Jeff

Promo Video:

Live Performance at THON 2010

“All Star” at THON 2010

“Party in the USA BJC” at THON 2010



Crash Kings concert review
Date: April 15, 2010
Venue: The Note – West Chester, PA
Cost: $10 in advance, $12 at the door
Opening band(s): Blood Feathers

When everything falls into place, it makes for such a great night.

That’s exactly what happened this past Thursday when I went to go see Crash Kings. Then venue was relaxed. The crowd was there for a good time. And, of course, Crash Kings tore it up.

The Note is an interesting place to be for lack of a better descriptor, interesting in a good way though. For anyone unfamiliar with the venue, it’s owned by Bam Margera and he’s pretty much always there when a band is playing. I didn’t see him when I walked in (He got there later); however, it didn’t take long to notice Bam’s uncle, Don Vito, sitting at the bar next to us. All I could think was, “Yeah, this is gonna be a good night.” The inside of The Note looks like an old pub from years ago but, at the same time, it’s very modernized: full bar in back, stage up front, second bar upstairs and a great sound system throughout.

I got there with a friend when doors opened at 7PM just to go in and have a drink and chill till the bands came on. Apparently that’s what the bands did as well. On my one side was the entirety of the Blood Feathers, the opening band, having a couple beers, and on the other I noticed Mike Beliveau, Crash Kings bassist, milling about talking to people. As the minutes went by, the other two members of Crash Kings, lead singer/keyboardist Tony Beliveau and drummer Jason Morris, started making appearances downstairs near the crowd at the bar walking back and forth prepping the show. It’s these little details that can really enhance the evening.

As the Bloodfeathers took the stage around 8:30, there wasn’t a big crowd that moved down the stage area. However, I don’t think was because people didn’t like them. To be honest, I really dug them. I had never heard them before so I wasn’t familiar with their music but they were still really fun to listen to. They were folk sounding yet soul too. They played through their set switching lead vocalist now and then between songs and looked like they were enjoying it. After they ended their set and cleaned up, they were right back out to hang with the crowd by the bar.

Between sets, I had turned around and realized Bam has showed up and The Note itself was starting to fill. It wasn’t packed though and the crowd that was there was more than bearable. Having been a 21+ show, there were either people there just to drink and hear some live music or those that were big Crash Kings fans knowing more than just their single “Mountain Man.” As a little time went by, I still noticed Mike and Jason walking around but, this time, being stopped and noticed by more people. Obviously the Crash Kings fans have arrived excited for the show.

And there was no disappointment. When Tony, Mike, and Jason took the stage, I immediately moved down to the floor area. I ended up being about 18 inches away from the stage directly in front of Tony’s clavinet…

Sidebar: Clavi-what? Let’s put it this way. Have you ever seen a band rock hard without a guitar? No, Keane doesn’t count; I said rock hard. Tony plays keyboard and clavinet: the love child of a keyboard and guitar. With its keys, whammy bar, and 60+ internal guitar strings, the instrument is really quite something to watch being played.

Anyway, back to the show. I can easily say I have never been this close to the stage of a band. The intimacy of the venue enhanced their performance that much more. Crash Kings opened with some of their, dare I say, slower songs. They weren’t so much slower but just featured Tony more on keys than clavinet. Either way, they were still rocking out with very little banter between songs. It was clear they were here to play for the crowd.

And play they did. They played through their entire self-titled album including all my favorites: “It’s Only Wednesday,” “You Got Me,” and, of course the #1 alternative radio single, “Mountain Man.” Right before they played “Mountain Man,” Tony said, “We really appreciate you guys coming out tonight. We’ve got one more for you.” That meant this was the last song on the album to be played so in their encore they might be playing something new or doing their cover of “War Pigs.” This was not the case, however. “Mountain Man” actually was the last song of the evening. My only negative critique of the whole night was that there was no encore.

That alone definitely could not put a sour taste in my mouth especially when the announcement immediately after the song was that the Crash Kings would be out in a few minutes to talk to the crowd. Now I’ve heard announcements like that after shows before and as 1-2 hours pass, the band finally makes their way out to an autograph table with a line a mile long. This wasn’t the case, though. In under 10 minutes, Tony, Mike, and Jason were all out on the floor cleaning up their gear from the stage and there was only a few people down there who wanted to talk to them, myself being one of them. I told them I much I loved their live shows and I was fortunate enough to have this be the third time I have seen them live. They seemed truly grateful for the support and were willing to talk (and listen!) as long as I wanted. I kept it short because they were obviously busy packing and I bid them adieu and made my way out of The Note.

In the past 5-6 years, I have now seen somewhere in the area of 110 artists live. From the huge arena shows of Muse and Jay-Z to the smaller venue shows of Natasha Bedingfield and Saul Williams, I have seen my fair share. And, Crash Kings, you are in my top 10 live performances. If I were to consider a cost to performance ratio, you may even be in my top 3. I didn’t need the glitz and glam at the show. I felt the performance and the music. They were there to perform for the crowd selflessly. Great show, great night. I will be seeing you guys again.

Crash Kings – You Got Me [YSI]

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By DJ Echoes (guest reviewer)

First, I would like to thank Kris.G for offering me the chance to post on Bridging The Verse.  I only wish it didn’t have to be under such unfortunate terms.  (It’s kind of like meeting a hot girl at a funeral). Anyways, without further ado:

Racking up plays on last.fm.
Voting for their video at mtvU.
Promoting the concert on my radio show.
Sharing with my friends the joys of Chiddy Bang.

These are all activities I performed to help spread the word. Post-”concert”, I wish I could traverse time and space to take them all back (but at least I didn’t drive 4+ hours to see them.  Sorry, Kris…).

I recall seeing The Sounds in 2006 and realizing that there are certain obligations of which a performer should be aware for his/her/their audience. At the time, I considered wearing something slightly nicer than a wife-beater tank top to suffice that rule. Now, I’ll settle for showing up before the event ends.

I should have know that proper event planning was not a top priority when the official Facebook event had Chiddy Bang playing simultaneously at the local hip-hop/statutory rape club and the douchebag/statutory rape frat house. Ultimately, it was confirmed that we would be infiltrating fratland.

Upon arrival, we purchased our tickets. I bought two and had a sinking feeling that I just got swindled, hoodwinked, robbed. I thought ‘Perhaps my prejudices towards Greek Life culture are a bit harsh’ and again ignored my intuition. We walked into a pen oozing with shame and regret, evidenced by the loud, unfortunate-looking frat concubines. (Side note: there was an alarming percentage of gingers at this event. Should have been my last signal to turn back from whence we came.)

The stage was about 8-square feet in surface area, and before we knew it, the humble platform was graced by the opening performers, Ground Up. Or Ground Out. Or Ground Meat. Can’t remember. Don’t care.

They sucked. Granted, one of the performers had slightly more energy and interesting delivery, but the lyrics were laughably bad. We stood in amazement as we were confronted by couplets that would have Shakespeare slitting his wrists and stabbing his ears in the grave.  Thankfully, the sound system was so poorly engineered and utilized that most of the lyrics were indecipherable. They were on stage for 45 minutes. A long time. Or so I thought…

Because after their performance, we were gifted with a 2+ hour wait for the headliners to perform. During this time we watched as intoxicated females, wearing too little clothing to conceal rather undesirable bodily features, fell over males adorned with – you guessed it – Affliction t-shirts, cocked baseball hats, cans Natural Light, and parental disappointment. I truly doubt I ever resembled that in my freshmen heyday because I was at least mentally aware of how unintelligent the members of these scenes were.

After a little less than 2 hours, the lesser half of Chiddy Bang, Xaphoon, arrives. No one really cares. He’s white and he doesn’t rap. Granted, he’s a decent producer, but most producer’s don’t attach their faces to their clients for more exposure. Get off the stage and back to your Macbook, bro. His only saving grace was playing some Ol’ Dirty Bastard while we tapped our watches and toes, getting antsy for the Chiddiest one’s arrival.

As 9pm becomes 9:05, then 9:15, people start to wonder what will happen. Xaphoon occasionally provides traffic updates as to Chiddy’s location, but they curiously got farther and farther from the frat house. So it goes. A little short of 9:30, Sir Bang arrives. He declares that regardless of the noise ordinance, the concert will last as long as he decrees. Ha. HA! MUHAHAHAHAHA! …sure, Chid.

The first two songs are curiously softer than the opening act’s. Perhaps this is because we notified a frother (frat brother) that one of the loudspeakers are glowing hot orange and likely about to ignite. The young male (likely a Mensa-candidate) pointed at himself as we motioned him over, then turned around and walked away from us. Sir, we are doing this for your good. I would have no qualms about watching your house of white adolescent debauchery burn to Abercrombie-scented ashes. Go suck a d.

Oh wait, did I forget to mention that we were gifted with Xaphoon’s excellent percussion abilities? Perhaps they were fantastic, but the resident Live Audio Engineer/Audio Designer must have had some extra-nasty syphilis that day, because the rest of the brothers placed two vocal microphones haphazardly around the drums, likely looking like whatever ground of Neanderthals on the first attempts at the wheel. Thus, we never heard a single snare hit.

Anyways, after 2 songs, Chiddy declares that it is freestyle time, and requests rapping topics. Being a cynical, white crowd, patrons offered “Sodomy”, “Nuclear Proliferation”, “Groupies”, “Philly”, and “Stem Cells” as possible options. He went with the latter 3. I only heard one reference to stem cells, and that was him saying “stem cells”. Very clever, sir. Hats off to you.

(We’re almost there)

So, he dives into his next song. About 3/4′s of the way through, he suddenly turns his back on the audience and walks back into the area behind the stage. After a minute, he announced that the cops have arrived and the show must end. Apparently “rappin’ for ya’ll ALL NIGHT” actually means until 3 policewomen arrive on the scene. You’re very hood, dawg. Very hood.

As I shake my head in not-quite-disbelief (recall all of the negative foreshadowing earlier), Xaphoon announces that to make the night worthwhile, they will perform an acapella song before leaving. Oh, thank God, Buddha, Allah, and Richard Dawkins. Because the lyrics are why I listened to Chiddy Bang in the first place. Xaphoon takes a singular snare drum on stage while Chidderino raps sans microphone. I couldn’t hear a single word above the fraternity harlots shrieking with their 2-pack-a-day, lunchlady voices to “SHUT THE FUCK UP”. How much more persuasive can you get?

One of the best concerts I’ve ever seen was a rap concert, featuring Raekwon the Chef of the Wu-Tang Clan. So maybe I had some high hopes for this event. But they were crushed, aborted like the fetus of any unfortunate pairing at the fraternity that night, which surely happened after Chiddy Bang departed State College. So to the members of Sigma Chi and the collective of Chiddy Bang, I have two last words: fuck off.

(Chiddy Bang could possibly find redemption in offering a free concert at Penn State. Fratholes, not so much).

***Editor’s note: This was the song that no one could hear a cappella***

Chiddy Bang – All Things Go [YSI]

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Yep, it wasn’t even “Opposite of Adults” ….