March 4, 2004

The Raveonettes/Har Mar Superstar/Delays/The Duke Spirit : London Astoria

Har Mar reviews the show for us...

Sex was the word at the Astoria tonight. No matter what
your taste, this diverse four-way bill was built to heat up the grey London
February night. The Duke Spirit kicked off the crowded
evening with a lusty wall of noise that will surely earn them a place at the
Royal British rock table. Frontwoman Liela Moss beautifully
moans her way through a slew of future classics from their debut EP,
'Roll, Spirit, Roll,' sounding like the missing link
between Nico, Cat Power, and Karen O. The
band shoegaze confidently because they know that their Velvety riffs combined
with the stunning singer's tambourine hip swagger brings more hot-milkshake
to the yard than Kelis'Rabbit Tickler with a fresh battery
pack.

Delays bring their chart-crashing falsetto power pop to
the stage to the delight of all the quivering knees of all the teenage girls
in the front row. The pretty, young Southampton quartet
stormed through an early greatest hits collection that oddly saw two members
in scarves while the drummer found the heat oppressive and went shirtless the
entire time and their fine-tuned guitar pop will deliver many top 10 singles
in the coming years.

Then I, Har Mar, hit the stage with a new intensity
spurned by months of writing, a new backing band, and two hottie dancers.
Dropping three hot new songs - 'Sex Tape', 'DUI', 'As
(Seasons)' - on the people. I descended into the crowd to receive
sips of champagne, two pairs of panties, a KitKat bar, and lots of
tongue action. On this sweaty Sunday evening I staked the claim to my very
own NME Award Category, Fucking Best Solo Artist, in hopes of
snatching the gong for existing category, Best Solo Artist.

Finally, the Raveonettes stunned the audience with their
return to the live arena after a two-month relaxation hiatus. We all longed
to climb into bed with Danish stunners Sune Rose and
Sharin as they led us back down the sultry highway that we
so dearly missed. As the band washed us in their gentle, yet loud fog of
thick, atmospheric drones - like a noisy Shangri-Las - the lights mesmerized
and forgave us for all of the dirty thoughts swimming through our heads.
Welcome back Raveonettes, but know that you are to blame
when 1000 London indie girls give birth this November.

Har Mar Superstar