With the sentence ‘I am the owner of a black and blue boner,’ the singer Tim Harrington set the tone right away. He was right, it was a little cold yesterday night at the Getty Center situated in the Santa Monica Mountains, we always get the marine air over there, but this is not exactly what I mean by setting the tone. He came on stage wearing some white and blue makeup all over his face with black mascara under his eyes which gave him the appearance of a well-fed zombie, the head hidden behind an umbrella he had taken from the entrance of the museum, and wrapped by some kind of neon orange synthetic fur, weirdness had never been so well represented by a single person.
Some bands have tried anything to get noticed, they have pulled the attention by their style, makeup, strange outfits, accessories, outrageous behavior, provocative words, but what can you do to get noticed these days? So much has been tried already, so much has been done, the terrible makeup (Kiss, Alice Cooper), the bloody animal parts and obscenity (Marylin Manson), the out-of-this-world insane balloon-confetti party (The Flaming Lips)… you get a little bit of all these shenanigans with Les Savy Fav, and even more because everything is tinted with humor.
Most of the people are way past the being offended stage when it comes to blood on the face or simulating sexual acts, but the Getty Center, being an immaculately designed museum, drains a certain type of art-snob crowd, may be a little uptight for this type of performance. It was not the case yesterday night, people were really enjoying the show and laughing at Tim Harrington’s every decadent move.
You have seen the type before, the adolescent adult with ADD distracted by anything and always ready for the next act, the party-animal Belushi type with a jerky stage presence. However, he does not seem to force himself to act that way, you truly believe him, he is a natural, and he is not playing out someone else, he is intense and physical, occupying all the surroundings, on stage then in the middle of the crowd the following second, like a bulimic who cannot stop eating the space around him. During the show, he managed to bury himself for at least 5 minutes in the bushes of the garden, to spit several times beer on the front row of the crowd, to try climbing the limestone wall of the Getty museum, to spread fake blood on his face and stomach by drawing a big zero, to stuff the fake fur inside his red tights, to make a tied belt out of duct tape, while singing of course, while undressing himself little by little and getting in the middle of the crowd numerous times.
The antics of Harrington seem to have no limits and there are no boundaries between him and the crowd.
There is a certain disconnection between him and the other musicians, since during his escapades, Seth Jabour (guitar), Harrison Haynes (drums), Syd Butler (bass) and Andrew Reuland (guitar) stay stoic, a little amused by all this craziness, but still perfectly playing their noisy Fugazi reminiscent songs. However they seem to be his accomplices following all his moves, helping him to pull the wire of his mike while playing extended instrumental explorations of the songs.
Les Savy Fav come from Brooklyn, NY and all the members have met at the Rhode Island School of Design they were attending. Since 1995 these art-rockers have released 5 albums since 1995 and an EP. Wow 15 years already and I had never seen them or hardly heard of their music?! Live they are a lot of fun, but be prepared to get a lot of naked skin, sex, rage and humor. They play tight music with a lot of energy and seem to enjoy playing with each other as if it was their first time.