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Concert Sat Apr 23 2011

Photos/Review:Black Lips with Vivian Girls @ Logan Square Auditorium, 4/22/11

By Kirstie Shanley

If the crowd at was any indication of how this show last night went down, it would be easy to label it as a success. Both bands but Black Lips especially were like the Statue(s) of Liberty for indie garage rock welcoming their poor huddled masses yearning to breathe free in the most literal ways. From the minute of the first guitar chords for "Sea of Blasphemy" to an all out chaotic dance party on stage where there may have been more fans joined with the band than watching from below, the audience did not let up.

In many ways, one could even say that the major testament to Black Lips isn't their energy on stage but their ability to hold their own while audience members are stage diving around them and when they decide to stage dive themselves. It's impressive they play any of the right chords and can still hold their edgy fast pace. Much as in the case of Monotonix, the band's movements are fierce and mobile. Over the years, they've also become less gross, resorting to fewer stage antics involving bodily fluids. That doesn't mean they aren't what some might term "sloppy" at times but it's to a point or on purpose in a way that defines vs. detracts from their sound.

Many of the songs played by Black Lips were songs that the audience may not have been familiar with from their 6th studio album 2011's Arabia Mountain. Pretty quickly, the band broke into "Family Tree," "Modern Art" "Dumpster Dive" and "Go Out and Get It" while still leaving room for old favorites like "Cold Hands" and perhaps their most well known song, "Bad Kids."

Vivian Girls also put on a stellar performance in a way that suggested it was more of a co-headlining bill vs. them opening up with them playing nearly an hour while Black Lips just topped over this set time. (Kickball Katy even added Vivian Girls in graffiti to the sheet hanging in back towards the end of their set.) The three piece continues to have a great stage presence with flying hair and a sense of dynamic chemistry between the three of them. The lineup change with both Frankie Rose and Ali Koehler moving on has been unfortunate but newest drummer Fiona Campbell was able to hold her own.

The thing about Vivian Girls is their very carefree and almost innocent seeming nature with "Kickball Katy" Goodman responding the most to the thrashing guys who wanted to know where the after party was. She insisted they didn't party and the songs weren't about illegal substances, reinforcing this sort of pure of heart notion that one should just enjoy the songs as they are instead of looking for lots of darker hidden meanings.

Setlist wise, the trio was able to get in a great deal of songs due to the short lengths of each one. Newest album's Share the Joy was featured with song highlights being "Lake House" "Death" "Sixteen Ways" and "Dance (If You Wanna)" but none of these managed to top the audience's mosh pit frenzy when the band played older song "Survival," which made living through their set when one was close to the stage more of an achievement.