Weekend report: the non-Grammy edition

The weekend seemed to be all about glitz, glamour and Grammy, but not in the middle of the black-clad, dancing throng Saturday night at the Wiltern, or among the bouncing youngsters Friday at the Echo, or among the sweaty, swaying masses who packed the Echoplex on Friday. With so many good bands visiting from across the pond, it made sense to get out -- at least more sense than it made to give a best new artist award to somebody for her sophomore album.

Editors' set on Saturday at the Wiltern was surprising, darned-near transcendant. The bill offered an interesting triage of mid-level bands -- San Diego's Stonesy Louis IV and synth-rocking Canadians Hot Hot Heat joined the Birmingham, England, quartet in packing the theater. If the music wasn't diverse enough, the disparity among the bill's lead vocalists was: Even toned down from the band's early days, Louis XIV's Jason Hill affects a pretty effective Bon Scott; Hot Hot Heat's Steve Bays is nervous and yelpy, though not so much since his quartet became a radio band; and Editors' Tom Smith can fill any room with his stentorian boom.

Smith carried the night, ricocheting around the stage to a nifty light show as his band's songs pogoed between gloom and hope. Ian Curtis, two points ahead in his battle with the demons.

While Hot Hot Heat did little better than fashion a live approximation of its radio hits, Louis XIV offered some surprises of its own. With its sophomore album, "Slick Dogs and Ponies," the quartet has graduated from its glam-garage origins ... I mean, string players? Even with Hill having equipment troubles Saturday, the set approached arena rock-like territory, with more hits (the new track "Guilt by Association" and the band's new take on its radio hit, "Finding Out True Love Is Blind") than misses (the too-close-to-Bowie new song "Air Traffic Control.")

Friday night in Echo Park offered some contrasts as well -- the fresh-faced pop of the Kooks (and the even-fresher-faced openers the Morning Benders) upstairs at the Echo (average crowd age: 25), and the jammy psych-rock of Welsh veterans Super Furry Animals downstairs in the Echoplex (average crowd age: 35).

Even given the venue's terrible sightlines, the Super Furries' show was satisfactorily sweaty, the quintet jamming long into the night. The Kooks, playing the second of two sold-out club shows (they will likely be at the Wiltern their next time through L.A.), connected quickly with their youthful crowd, and the Morning Benders -- the release of their debut still three months away -- showed that their frisky Fab Four-isms pack a lot of punch.

Photo of Editors' Tom Smith courtesy of Timothy Norris

Comments

[a fan]

Sunday's show at the HOB Anaheim was way better than the Wiltern. That said, I was plesantly surprised by Louis XIV. They were a lot better than when I first saw them back in 2005.