Ambulance Ltd Roll Call

[kurosawa-b/w]

I really enjoyed the show last night. I was up front to the right and the sound was fine (other than being really loud). I loved Ambulance's new song mainly because I love blues rock. The "old" songs sounded especially tight and strong -with new orchestrations. (I didn't recognize one of the songs for a minute.) The band was having a good time on stage. What can I say? I love em.
 
 I also enjoyed the other two bands. Robbers on High Street showed a lot of promise. I will have to pick up their album. They were a good opener for Ambulance style-wise. Unfortunately, I was somewhat distracted through most of the set because the guy next to me kept blowing cigarette smoke in my face. I found myself switching from the "allow smoking" camp to the "ban smoking" camp. (especially after the Secret Machines show where a frat boy next to me was smoking a cigar -yech!)
 
 And I liked VHS or Beta. It was the first time I'd seen them. I couldn't help wondering what they would sound like with a different vocal range. Still they were more interesting (to me) than some of the other dance rock bands out there. I danced, but it felt like I was the only one. Until...some obnoxious drunk individuals pushed to the front (and in the process shoved aside some twittering + alarmed teenage girls -poor kids). They then proceeded to dance in the most idiotic manner possible. It's weird because the exact same thing happened to me the night before at Secret Machines. I'm in favor of dancing, but not when you look like a dumb ass and hit people with your elbows and swishing hair. It was shameful.
 
 But then the dorks departed, Ambulance came on stage, and all the previous crowd crap was forgotten. I was thrilled to finally hear Young Urban live.

[mr_eff]

Well, I was surprised that VOB wasn't headlining the show...their site was pretty explicit about it. I'm wondering if that contributed to their attitude, which someone else already noted, was somewhat humorless. They weren't half bad, being a pretty solid cross between late 70's disco and early Cure. After some initial glitches, I think they started to win over the crowd. However, they then started singing through a synthed up mic and that's where they lost me and a good portion of the crowd. That song, whatever it was, was awful. They ended on a good note, though. It was too bad. I think they could put on a good show someday.
 
 I've seen Ambulance open for Placebo, The Killers and Elefant. This was the first time I've seen them headline and it was a pretty decent performance on their part. Darren Beckett, especially, played more aggressively than I've ever noticed before, which was fun to hear. The lead guitar was barely audible half the time, which was a little unfortunate. All in all, though, they are a consistent band and they make some good, sometimes great, music. That consistency was really nice after the dud that was VHS or Beta.