RX Bandits [Sargent House] - Photo by Jacob Khan
As the years go by it's becoming more of a rare occurrence for my brothers [e]ccentric, G1ockz, and D$ to be at the same show as I. One could say it's because our schedules don't always match up or maybe it's that money isn't as available for shows of our favorite artists these days as it once was[ticket prices have gone up over the years haven't they]. Whatever the reason may be it was a fun trip down to No Doubt's backyard to watch our favorite Pharmaceutical Bandits rock the House Of Blues Anaheim stage right next to the "happiest place on earth".
I've lost track of how many times I've been to HOB Anaheim but each time I go I feel like the audience isn't as young as it once was. Yes, I know I didn't go to a show at Chain so it should be expected. Despite the creeping reality that I'm getting older it was a nice sight to see people of all types gathered for the Bandits. I spotted band shirts ranging from Hepcat to Led Zeppelin to Suburban Legends to Bad Religion and I could tell who the old time fans were from the new school ones.
"R X B!" "R X B!!" "R X B!!!" is what the crowd chanted while they stood impatiently for their faces to be melted with pure sonic intensity. The curtain was lifted and we were teased by the slight palm muting guitar which led into a song that many haven't heard in a while. RX Bandits started off their set with VCG3 off of their album Progress. The last time I heard them perform this song was at Warped Tour LA at the Coliseum in 2002. They then proceeded to travel back in time with a rude boy's favorite from early 2000, Consequential Apathy. [e]ccentric later made a comment that when he was trying to get the pit to start skankin' the majority of the audience members looked at him with confusion.
It seemed as the first block of songs were moving forward in time with each RXB release. Starting off with two songs from Progress they jumped into the aggressive crowd pleaser Mastering The List off The Resignation. As I looked around I spotted a few around me doing the air saxophone and air trombone. These air musicians kept it up during the next song, Only For The Night. With each song whether it be a current track from Mandala or from The Resignation the ongoing energy emitted from the band was done with the most expertise in dynamics. Balancing out the loud, the soft, and the space in between it was just enough tension to keep the audience from falling off the tightrope.
Even when we thought they were done with their set they let the anticipation grow until we couldn't take it any longer. When Matt, Steve, Joseph, and Chris made their way back to the stage they surprised all of us with some of our old school favorites, Analog Boy and Decrescendo. I can go on and on about how much fun we had at this show but It would just be words on this digital page. With the help of [e]ccentric I compiled the set list from our memory and we leave it down below for your listening pleasure. So until you have the opportunity to experience the show live like we did, this will have to do...
Tour Dates:
4/16 The Big Top in New Orleans, LA
4/30 The Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, NJ
<->Nativity<->
Are you guys sure on the order of the setlist. If you look at this thread (http://rx-bandits.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7901), it appears that "It's Only Another Parsec" or "Costello" was supposed to be played right after Consequential Apathy. I too was busy dancing, so don't really remember the order of everything.
ReplyDeleteMark - Thanks for the heads up! We're not 100% on the list. This is what we managed to jot down during the show. So based on those notes this is what we came up with.
ReplyDelete- Nativity -
analog boy??????????? i thought they hated that song...........i LOOOOOOOVE RXB, they're my favorite band. but analog boy is probably the worst song they've made...i'm not sure if they would have actually played it. hm....oh well, its the bandits, i suppose if they wanted, they could make any of their previously sucky songs awesome. i have faith haha.
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