As seems to be the trend of many bands playing Big Day Out this year (The Killers, Foals etc.), we’re getting a unique opportunity to catch some pretty big names in relatively intimate settings. Take last night’s Yeah Yeah Yeahs gig as a perfect example of this; the band played the 1200-or-so capacity Metro Theatre, having sold out the Hordern Pavillion (5500 capacity) last time they were in town in January 2010. So naturally this was a highly anticipated, super sold out gig, full of the band’s friends, fans and even the Virgens (from the acclaimed Stop The Virgens performance that happened last year in Sydney).
The fifteen track set was a mix of new and old, with a very sparkly Karen O walking onto the stage to a huge reception from the crowd, with the songstress unable to wipe the smile off her face from the moment she walked on until well after she had left the stage. It was clear immediately that her lengthy absence from the stage (as Yeah Yeah Yeahs, anyway) has made her return all the more exciting – for both fans and the lady herself. But then again, she’s always been a force to be reckoned with.
The first track was “Rich” off of Fever to Tell, followed by “Mosquito”, off the forthcoming album of the same name. The number is a terribly fun jam, with lyrics like “I’ll suck your blood” making it a sort of camp Rocky Horror-esque number. Following the track, Karen reminisced about the last time she graced the Metro Stage; an infamous gig almost ten years ago that ended prematurely with Karen heading to hospital, having injured her head and back. She said, humoursly, that she wanted to make sure she got the new single out of the way early just in case anything like that happened again.
It would be fair to say that her performance has changed a lot since those days. She’s much more in control of the show, and though this means the shows aren’t quite as manic as they were ten years ago, she’s now very much the seasoned performer, and gets the job done whether at the Big Day Out or in a club show like this. Her experiences in Stop The Virgens, a choreographed spectacle that took Karen’s stage presence to a new level, would have probably added to her current appearance – that much like a giddy teenager having the time of her life. Much less to worry about, back to where it all began. She even had some foot powered confetti cannons to shoot into the crowd at the show’s high points, such as during “Phenomenon”, during which she also donned a sparkly mask and played with the mic cord as though it was as much of the show as any other instrument, rubbing it against her body as he belted out the band’s signature tracks.
There was a costume change for “Zero” with Karen replacing sparkles for her famous leather jacket – a part of the show that will no doubt remain until the end of time. Fan favourite “Skeleton” followed, and slowed things right down, in advance of a track which the set list said was called “Dispair”, a new song that started slow but built in intensity. The track seemed to be a very personal song for Karen, with lyrics about “wasted years” and telling someone how they’ve always been there for her. It’s destined to be one of the standouts on the record.
“Maps” followed, which she dedicated to producer Nick Launay, support act Kirin J Callinan, the Virgen babes and “all the lovers in the room”. Indeed she had plenty of love to give and the set didn’t slow down for a second from there on out – bar from a longer-than-usual encore break, during which time Karen added a zebra cape to her repetoire.
The main set closed with “Heads Will Roll”, which got the entire Metro Theatre jumping, and the encore closed with the similar high energy of “Date With The Night”, which saw Karen smash her microphone into the crowd, before graciously thanking the crowd and leaving the stage. It was a fine performance from a band who are getting warmed up again after their time off, bringing with them a new album to boot. Say what you will about its cover, but we can’t wait to listen to Mosquito.
And though this review has focused on Karen, I think we can all agree, also, that there are few people quite as cool as Nick Zinner. That man is a machine, and tonight was no exception for the fantastic guitarist!
Setlist
Rich
Mosquito / Suck Young Blood
Cold Light
Phenomenon
Earth
Black Tongue
Zero
Skeleton
Dispair
Maps
Gold Lion
Miles Away
Head Will Roll
—
Turn Into
Date With The Night
