The Epoxies, Frosted Tipz, Let’s Dance – Live (Jan. 19th, 2005)

I’ve been to quite a lot of concerts these past few years, but I’ve only been to a couple venues. There’s still a lot of venues I need to see, explore and experience. Last night was my introduction to New City and it definitely made for a good first impression with a solid line up of bands.

First up was a cover band called Let’s Dance, this month old band was a late addition to the lineup and used all borrowed equipment, but that didn’t stop them from putting on a great live show. They did the originals proud, singing songs by the likes of The Ramones and The Cure. The singer had a great voice, reminiscent of The Sex Pistols‘s John Lydon and he portrayed himself with the swagger of the famed front man too. He even fell to the ground during the last song, momentarily disconnecting the cordless mic and having to find a new one quickly. While the crowd was small, the people there enjoyed them – it was also nice to see Roxy Epoxy in the crowd dancing to the band. And as the bassist went back to work behind the club’s bar, we started the waiting game.

It’s there that I found one bad thing about New City, the waits in between bands are dragged on for longer than necessary in hopes of getting more people to go and buy alcohol. So when you’re there simply to see the bands the wait can become a bit long and boring. After thirty minutes of waiting the second band,The Frosted Tipz finally came on and kicked it off with a instrumental. The female fronted indie/electro band played songs like Lifestyles Of the Rich And Fabulously Boring and Head vs Hips and had some amazing interludes with great guitar solos thrown throughout it. The singer’s vocals were strong, somewhat like those of The Horrorpops but could have done well to move around a bit more instead of staying statically.

After yet another 30 to 40 minute wait, Portland’s The Epoxies finally stepped onto the stage, and that’s when the night really kicked off.

Covered in smoke, lasers flying from the tips of their deformed bass and guitars, their name glowing in the background, the Epoxies put on an amazing set. They were all into it, dancing and putting everything they could into the performance. FM Static tipped off part of his keyboards and played it like a guitar while Viz Spectrum and Shock Diode entertained themselves by firing their lasers off the disco balls on the ceiling. Roxy Epoxy was amused by the cordless mic, happy by the fact that she could no longer trip anyone of her band members, she used the opportunity of her first cordless mic to go into the crowd and sing with them for a bit. At the end of the set she even walked off stage jokingly saying “I like this thing, I’m taking it with me, la,la,la,la,la”.

Sadly, their set was short, only 45 minutes long. But it was still an intense, energizing, fun filled set with songs like Robot Man, Radiation, Toys, You Kill Me, and Everything Looks Beautiful On Video. The vocals were a little low in the mix, but that didn’t stop most people from singing along. Roxy Epoxy even got one member of the crowd to get up on stage and sing with her for the band’s final song of the night. They even managed to ignore the three drunk guys who kept trying to steal the mic, play the guitar and smash the keyboard, which is more than I could’ve done.

Overall, it was an incredibly fun night which definitely made up for me having to waste 3 hours doing nothing downtown by myself. If The Epoxies ever come to your town, you’ll be crazy not to go.