In a word, Out-fuckin-Standing. Center Stage (formerly Earthlink Live) could possibly be the perfect venue for such a show. Its intimate, TV studio atmosphere felt as if I was about to see the band perform on Conan or something. With perfect acoustics even from the third row extreme stage right seats, I was amazed at the booming bass and ear drum piercing vocals and guitar work from the trio. It started with front-man Andrew Stockdale peeking shyly around the curtain with his Medusa-like hair giving the ecstatic crowd a welcoming wave. As it should for any true showman, the shyness quickly faded away like a sunset on the last day of a beach vacation. Grabbing his guitar and bellowing out the first few lines of "Dimension", everyone knew that the musical breath of fresh air we were all inhaling could never last long enough. As the raunchy 1970s power chords thundered along, I noticed the bassist/keyboardist Chris Ross was just as much, if not more of an entertainer as their fearless leader. Taking keyboard playing to an all new level, his earthquaking style of dragging his instrument all over the stage and jamming out, while it was tipped over and on a tilt about 80% of the time, would have made even Beethoven look on in ponderous awe. Jumping about 10 feet across the stage off of the slightly raised drum set platform to his electrified ivory keys just as a song would kick back in from a bridged lull was unlike anything ever before seen. At one point he even used the incredibly tough instrument as an Olympic pummel horse as he leapt over it from behind to catch the next bar of notes, perfectly in time of course. The crowd was putty in their hands, screaming at the top of their lungs during every perfectly played note. The small but densely packed open floor didn't decide to start moshing until about 3/4 of the way through the night during "Colossal." Instead of having a flautist on stage for the Jethro Tull-esque song "Witchcraft", Stockdale decided to bust out a finger blistering solo to make up for the absent windpipe. Predictably, "Woman" was saved for the encore set, which to my amazement also included Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown." I nearly soiled myself. I will see this band anytime, anywhere, anyhow I possibly can. They included the opening band Mess Hall, a fellow Aussie duet, for the encore. The drummer just played the cowbell which couldn't help but remind me of the SNL skit in which Christopher Walken states "I need more cowbell." Well, we got plenty of that and a brand new song from Wolfmother, which will be on their next album, to boot. The Raconteurs are tonight, so I will let y'all know about that one tomorrow.
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