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Thursday the 18th of Feb 2010 was to be a night of firsts for us all. The first of the firsts was that it was my good friend Dana’s very first concert. Cue ‘awwww!’s. And what better way to deflower the girl with a show of fine entertainment from the US band, OK Go.
Entering the Oxford Art Factory, we couldn’t help but notice how few the attendees were, which was unfortunate for the support band, Hungry Kids of Hungary, but fortunate for us to dance with more pizzazz. We accessorised with cocktails, and joined the throng to watch this perfect-for-crowd-warming band take the petite stage. This is a band for dancing and we soon found out that tambourine + jingle bell stick = awesome. Nice use of percussion, HKOH! Their upbeat, bubbly demeanor, combined with a piano with grunt made for a short but sweet set, and I imagine that they are what Little Red might sound like minus the 50s influence. To top it all off, they concluded with an outstanding cover of M.I.A’s “Paper Planes” which cemented their level of greatness in my mind as “one to keep an eye on”.
More cocktails to pass the so close yet so far half an hour interview and the people starting filling up the snug Gallery bar. The lights dulled and the screams from the super keen girls that had been at the foot of the stage the entire time rose. The four piece that is OK Go breezed on the stage, as snappily dressed as ever in blazers, caps and the amazingly large eyewear of Tim, the bassist.
Kicking off with a blast of white confetti and a cacophony of screams, OK Go began their “show in a city that is named a first name”. Hits like “Get Over It”, “A Million Ways”, “Don’t Ask Me” and the Youtube favourite “Here It Goes Again” were all delivered with the charming force that OK Go ooze, but the real treats were yet to come.
The second first for the evening was hearing “What To Do” sung acapella style and played on, wait for it, hand bells. Not so much a first for OK Go, but a first for me and my friends was lead singer Damian Kulash (a Polish surname, he informed the crowd) jumping into the crowd for a solo performance of “Last Leaf”. He stood right in front of us and basically serenaded me (yes I am aware there were about 200 people around me) but it was pretty much all for Angie. Thanks Damian, and thanks for letting me suggestively stroke your arm as you left the crowd.
More confetti! And after a brief pause before the encore part of show, they returned wearing matching blazers with ‘studs’ on the back. The lights again dimmed and the studs revealed themselves to be not studs but LED LIGHTS that scrolled up and down not unlike a pokie machine and spelling out the word OKGO to a dinging,winning pokie trill.
The single off their new album Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky “WTF?” began the second slice of the OK Go pie, and also presented another first. White, fluffy, light up, laser guitars. Yep, orgasmic! The band collaborated with Gibson and Fendi to create these jaw dropping instruments of wonder. Interested in more info? Fuck yes you are!
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/
Damian had a red one, Andy a green, and Tim scored what seemed to be a black one, but had an LED panel up the neck of the guitar with the album’s name and the song lyrics flashing across as he plucked away. Needless to say, everyone was around was totally blown away by what we were witnessing, and I am now pregnant with OK Go’s fluffy laser babies. More confetti and unfortunately they were finished. With a synchronized bow, they left the stage, cheekily throwing their picks and drumsticks into the crowd and onto the floor, so covered with white paper that would take us all hours to find. We then met Dan the drummer who was quite possibly the most polite band member I’ve ever met.
For those thinking “Maybe I should go see this treadmill band?”, I would tell them yes, go see OK Go, because although that video is YouTube gold, they are so much more than that and even if you don’t know that much of their music, you sure are in for a wild gyrating ride of musical splendour.
Brav-O-Kgo! Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
Header Photo by Rosie Smart -
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