Thursday, February 24, 2005

Eggs Reunion at North Six

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Eggs, who have reformed for a couple of shows, one in Brooklyn (the one I saw) and one in DC for the 20th anniversary of Teenbeat. Though I was required to stay up way past my bedtime, I was blown away at their performance. You could say that I expected rust but got rock instead. In addition to the usual rock instruments—electric guitar, bass, drums, keyboards—the band made use of the twelve-string electric guitar, trombone, tambourine, and assorted noisemakers without succumbing to gimmickry. Oh, and there was an excellent slide-guitar solo played with what appeared to be a pole that one finds attached to a velvet rope. But this was no private party! All the guys in the band seemed to be having a great time, and they broke the modern-rock code by making an effort to connect with the audience. They also committed the sin of smiling a lot. The songs weren't particularly tight, but I would characterize the music as being loose rather than sloppy. I prefer a little bit of raggedness anyway because it allows me to fill in some blanks. All in all, a great show and I would highly recommend your seeing them when they play at the Teenbeat 20th Anniversary show. One last thing: I think that the reason reunion shows are good, provided that the band really wants to be doing it and is not just desperate, is that it's like a band is covering itself. If you've ever played in a band, you know that there is a different energy to playing someone else's songs than there is playing your own. When you're doing a cover, it doesn't really matter if you mess up or can't hear a certain guitar part. You just have a great time and jump all over the place, whereas when you play your own material, every note is precious, which makes you tighten up. So if your favorite band reforms, go see them! They make be older, balder and fatter, but they're probably have a great time on stage and so will you.

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