Though Black Lips' guitarist Cole Alexander repeatedly prompted use of the "magic knob" by the lighting booth at the band's show Saturday at the Black Cat, their performance was missing the band's usual magnetism. The knob turned on a display of disco ball-like lights that seemed to promise a magical evening, but something was definitely lacking.
Messy-lipped "band-cestuous" kisses, free-flowing bodily fluids and general depravity have long been associated with the Black Lips' shows. Band members have said in recent interviews that the gimmicks were a way of providing audiences with a good show when they first started out and feared their music alone would be a disappointment.
With some solid material under their belts, the Lips have steadily moved away from spectacular displays of Alexander's oral pyrotechnics (he is now being treated for acid reflux) to spectacles of a more musical nature.
Audience members expected the band to either distract with its signature rowdiness or wow with its unique blend of punk, rockabilly and doo-wop after a second time in D.C. since the release of 2007's "Good Bad Not Evil." Unfortunately, the show fell somewhere in between.
The members of the band took the stage in various states of sobriety. Guitarist Ian Saint Pé's gangsta grill shown brightly into the audience as he grinned his approval, swaying slightly. They started strong, playing their endlessly catchy single "O Katrina!" early in the set. Soon, a mosh pit had formed in the front, occasionally breaking into the back of the crowd.
The band flew through some of its best songs. When they got to "Hippie, Hippie, Hoorah," a song that, at some point during the Lips' many forays through the District, has acquired some unusual audience participation, the crowd seemed to have a better idea of what was going on than some members of the band.
When Alexander made ghost noises into the microphone, prompting the crowd to wiggle its fingers jazz-hands style in response, Saint Pé seemed to have some trouble remembering the haunting riff that followed.
Though Alexander did deftly catch a few high-spit loogies in his mouth, the focus definitely was on the music. The music, though, despite being fast, hard and pure rock 'n' roll, was too sloppy to carry the show. At times, it seemed like the band was in a race to finish the set, and not everyone was running at the same pace.
Drummer Joe Bradley reliably provided a solid backbone, but what rested on it varied from song to song. By the time the Lips returned to the stage for their encore, the band had trouble playing along with the recorded loop of "Veni Vidi Vici," and Alexander challenged the crowd en masse to Wheel of Fortune pinball downstairs.
During one of the few breaks between songs, bassist and lead vocalist Jared Swilley announced the band would probably return to D.C. in May for the third time in seven months. Though the set didn't live up to the standard set by the band in previous performances, fans rejoiced - third time's the charm, after all.
