Home

Photos / Review: We Are Scientists, Liam & Me @ Sonar (2008.11.11)

IMG_0087

Photo credit: Greg Szeto

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: We Are Scientists – The Great Escape

This is going to be brief as I have a lot on my plate and in my mind.

I don’t think it’s possible for We Are Scientists to not have, and as a corollary not be, fun in performance.  It’s etched into their personalities, and thankfully this fun-loving trait is shared with a sizable contingent of their fervent fan-base.

For a Tuesday night, the club stage of Sonar was decently filled.  But I firmly maintain that everything is about quality and not quantity.  Judged on that basis, the Scientists should be really proud of the fanatics they have gathered around them.  Lead singer Keith Murray was even working their own merch table, with a line of eager fans waiting to chat, consume and take pictures with him.  Such is the level of their down-to-earthy-ness.

Openers Liam & Me are a catchy bunch of prototypical pop-punkers with a penchant for big sweeping rock gestures and affectations.  A nice, bubbling mixture of pop-punk and, synth-laden new wave that recalls any number of immensely popular national and local bands in the tweens, Fall-Out Boy/All Time Low segment, yet somehow keeps things a level above the dreck despite the somewhat derivative feel of their sound.

Bonus points for stage presence.

We Are Scientists don’t mess around…by messing around.  Their hilarious, improvised banter is key to enjoying their live show.  If you can’t appreciate that, you can’t relate to their personalities and by extension their music.  We Are Scientists produce an infinitely catchy, twitchy, dancey racket recalling at once great pop and post-punk.  Rarely, if ever, serious, songs like “Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt” are unabashed comedically sexualized romps around the dance-floor.  The tracks from their second album Brain Thrust Mastery are a bit more pop-weighted and don’t quite conjure the live energy as songs from the early era.  Single “After Hours” still works fairly well in the live setting, vocals really soaring.  But in light of the insistent clang and clatter of tracks like “Cash Cow” and the pure glory of “The Great Escape,” few songs from BTM can hope to compare.  Enough chatter.  Good, entertaining, fun show.

End of story.  Picture time.

Liam & Me

IMG_0042 IMG_0050 IMG_0051 IMG_0052 IMG_0056 IMG_0066 IMG_0071 IMG_0077 IMG_0081

We Are Scientists

IMG_0083 IMG_0087 IMG_0090 IMG_0099 IMG_0102 IMG_0107 IMG_0111 IMG_0125 IMG_0135 IMG_0136 IMG_0146 IMG_0150 IMG_0152 IMG_0154 IMG_0167 IMG_0172 IMG_0196 IMG_0204 IMG_0216 IMG_0226 IMG_0227 IMG_0230 IMG_0235 IMG_0241

Related posts

  1. Photos / Live Review: Sunn O))) @ Sonar (2009.09.23)All photos: Greg Szeto [Audio clip: view full post to...
  2. Photos / Live Review: Double Dagger, HEALTH, Pictureplane, Shams @ Sonar (2009.09.26)All photos: Greg Szeto [Audio clip: view full post to...
  3. Photos / Video / Live Review: Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Jay Electronica @ Sonar (2009.09.16)All photos: Josh Sisk Full set here I have always...
  4. Photos / Live Review: Beach House, Vetiver, Sian Alice Group @ Sonar (2009.03.11)Sian Alice Group traveled a long way to be a...
  5. Photos / Live Review: Appleseed Cast, An Horse, Solar Powered Sun Destroyer @ Sonar Club Stage (2009.04.15)[Audio clip: view full post to listen] MP3: An Horse...

2 Responses to “Photos / Review: We Are Scientists, Liam & Me @ Sonar (2008.11.11)”

  1. pasta says:

    these guys are phenomenal live. great photos greg.

Leave a Reply