Gogol Bordello

How come I'm not surprised that Windows Media doesn't have a genre called "gypsy punk?" Well it should, in order to accomodate bands like Gogol Bordello, a band currently touring with Cake.

Ellen and I went to see Cake at Hammerstein Ballroom with tickets my sister Vaiva got us for Christmas.The venue was much larger than I was expecting, and whether that was the cause of the terrible quality of the sound I'm not sure. But the sound was mixed terribly. The vocals could not be heard, and anything in the treble range was turned way down.

The opening act, Gogol Bordello is a raunchy mix apropos of their name. With fiddle and accordion accompaniment, an energetic, drunk lead singer, and gypsy women playing washboards and marching drums, the show was entertaining to say the least. As a Rolling Stone review says on their website: "Will rock dance parties from New York to Baghdad." This is certainly true. They would have been much better off playing to a dirty crowd in a slimy bordello, but we'll take them where we can, and wait impatiently for them to go back to playing their own shows.

Here are a few great lines from one of their songs:
bordello kinda guy

As I walked into the bar,
A man came up to me and said
"You know the older you will get,
The more perverted you will get?"

I walked out of of the bar,
And drove like crazy for half mile.
I was thirteen beers drunk.
We ventured on new york thruway.
Where myself I heard I say:
"Shall I be classic self-crasher,
Or shall i be a good flasher?!"

Awesome!

I can't remember the other opening act's name, and it's just as well, they were pretty bad. By the time Cake came on, the crowd was getting restless. Unfortunately, this did not translate into their enjoyment of the show. The frat guys in the cheapest seats above us kept yelling insanities and disrupting our enjoyment of the show. While Cake was great, and singing along was fun, there was no dancing and the sound system was terrible. I was most impressed with how much Cake sounded like they do on their albums (except, again, for the sound system). The guitars and bass, trumpet drums, and even rattlesnake instrument were very well reproduced.

-dr-