Live: Art Brut @ The Key Club - 9/11/07

Last night I caught the hilarious and fun Art Brut at the Key Club. The Lady Doc couldn't make it due to professional commitments, and despite my best efforts at selling her ticket, I ended up donating it to the Ice Cream Man. Hopefully he gave it to a lucky fan along with an Astro Pop.

Although the Key Club is down the street from my office, I had never been there until this show. It's rare that a band I care about plays there--it seems to be somewhat of a random venue. Ice-T was there recently, they host something called "Metal Skool" every Monday, and David Allan Coe, The Kottonmouth Kings, and Q-Tip are all upcoming acts. Not a bad venue, but definitely not a place I'll be going to regularly.

Anyway, on to the main event. Art Brut were exactly what I though they would be: peppy, fun, funny, and extremely entertaining. The band was about as good as they could be live and Eddie Argos was in full effect, spouting off about how we (the audience) must form a band, jumping rope with the mic cable, and pogoing through the audience during "Modern Art". He went on a few tangents, and the funniest was about the band's trip to Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. He couldn't get over the absurdity of having a California-themed park in California.

A few asides. The drummer doesn't have a drum throne; he plays standing upright through the entire show. I found the mix to be OK, but the lead guitar was definitely too quiet given the presence it's supposed to play in the songs. Also, the bass was loud (but not too loud), but the sound was slightly too bright for my taste.

Pretty much every song was awesome. Highlights included "Blame It On The Trains", "People In Love", "Late Sunday Evening", "Modern Art", "Direct Hit", "My Little Brother", "Nag Nag Nag", "Emily Kane", and "Rusted Guns of Milan" (a snippet of which is included below).