I've wanted to see deadboy and the Elephantmen in concert for years now, but they never headed anywhere close to me. This show was well worth the wait. The Lagerhouse is a tiny venue that I'd never heard of before the show. But hey, they have a good sound system and good taste in opening bands. Those are two things that Harpo's could use. Yeah, take that.
    When they hit the stage it was obvious that we were in for something special. The band is extremely tight live. I didn't notice any mistakes, and anytime something went wrong they'd be able to laugh about it.  I can't think of the last time i saw a band that seemed to be having so much fun on stage. You could tell by the way they looked at each other that they were enjoying it.
They ended up playing almost all of the songs on "We Are Night Sky" as well as a couple unreleased songs that i was familiar with from various bootlegs. , I don't think they did "Kissed by Lightning", not sure though. I didn't snag a setlist. Maybe someone can correct me.  The night was finished off with an awesome cover "Wave Of Mutilation".  No songs from "If This Is Hell I'm Lucky", this didn't bother me, I love those songs, but i already have that album, i can hear it whenever i want to. It's pretty much a different band to me now, and i like both eras in different ways.
    Alex Bergeron formerly of Agents of Oblivion played bass at the show, it helped give the band a complete sound, i'm not sure if he's a full member of the band or not. Though he'd be a great choice for the position.  Greg wasn't given a microphone, then again Tessie did a flawless job on backup vocals even as her bassdrum tried to escape (note the cinderblock on the picture page).
  And then there was Dax. What can you say about this guy? He has a voice someone would sell their soul to have, and then challenge Satan to some sort of fiddle contest with hilarious results. You can hear Dax on an album and be wowed, but it's nothing like hearing him live, the man's natural voice is unbelievable. It was one of those shows where you don't feel right singing along, you just want to take it all in. This lead me to hate the drunk girl behind me. Every so often I'd be so into the music that I forgot about any sort of outside world...at that point I'd hear "GO GIRL!". To make matters worse, it would be during songs like "No Rainbow" with little to no drumming. So, if you're going to these shows accept the fact that Tessie Brunet is a female, and females are allowed to rock, but don't screw up someone's listening experience!
  All in all the show was fantastic. The band loved to be there, they had fun, they had some great on stage banter. You get to hear some bluesy stuff as well as some full blown rock songs. Pick up "We Are Night Sky", get to know the songs, go to the show, love it. The members of the band were incredibly nice people. The experience was unbelievable, I can't wait for them to come back to town.  Don't miss an opportunity to see them live, there's no way to see them and not love it.
 

5 out of 5 skulls
Official Site : www.deadboyandtheelephantmen.com
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| Deadboy Review | The Opening Acts |  Deadboy Pictures |

The opening acts were good enough to mention so here you go:
The first act was The Expatriates, i wasn't much into their songs on myspace, it turns out they're a million times better live. Early on in the set i thought "Man these guys must love Neil Young". They're a good bluesy, indie rock band and they put on a killer show. I wouldn't mind seeing them again.

Next up was Paul Fonfara of  Painted Saints. Apparently the band didn't want to tour so he just went it alone. He used various pedals to loop guitar parts, and would then play over it, record and loop that, then sing, or play flute or whatever else he felt like doing. The whole thing was mind blowing, everyone in the room was in awe of this set. With that kind of reaction I think he'd be better off sticking it out as a solo artist. 

| Deadboy Review | The Opening Acts |  Deadboy Pictures |