Concert Review: Blanche w/ Gardens at MOCAD
MOCAD is a weird place, so I didn’t ask questions when I heard country spooks Blanche were playing at an art exhibition opening. On a side note, the updated neon sign on the outside of the building seemed pretty fitting for Blanche. A little more nihilistic than the last version, huh?
Gardens opened the night. They had a reckless, punkish mod thing going on along the lines of The Velvet Underground and The Gories. Two girls jumped up onstage and provided tambourine-playing and crazy go-go dancing for the rest of the set, one of which was none other than ex-Von Bondie Marcie Bolen. How many bands is she in these days? Silverghost? F’ke Blood? Am I missing anything else? Anyway, they only have some demos recorded, but we’ll definitely be keeping our eyes on Gardens in the future.
Blanche took to the stage as impeccably dressed as usual, and appropriate for its simultaneous weirdness and applicability, a reel of grainy old films showing Annie Oakley sharpshooting and a crazy non-Judy Garland version of The Wizard of Oz served as the band’s backdrop as complemented their Americana vibes.
As heavy as the subject matter of their songs gets, there’s always some sort of humor or irony that makes listening to Blanche’s music so interesting. Watching his antics onstage, it’s sometimes difficult to imagine how as funny and nice a guy as Dan Miller could write such dark songs. Dan sported a drawn-on moustache, pulled funny faces, yodeled, and as usual, cracked jokes about his band mates (“Feeny did that last song in a plaid suit! Tracee did it with some kind of wild hat that knocks my socks off!”) and the audience. Every aspect of Blanche is part of the performance, from their costumes to their onstage banter.
The show marked Greenhorne/current Raconteur/possible future Wolfmother member “Little” Jack Lawrence’s first Michigan show with the band in a long time (Patch Boyle, Dean Fertita, and Junior have been filling his slot in the past). It was good to see the Little Amber Bottles lineup on stage together.
Lastly, MCR fully endorses Feeny’s campaign for mayor.
Photos by Andrew Hecker