The 88 9.1.09 | Spaceland | Los Angeles, CA by Dawn Kohn photos by M'Lou Elkins To hear The 88 open their September Tuesdays Spaceland residency, I left behind the hippies of my Venice neighborhood and squeezed past the Beverly Hills/Brentwood MTV kids – leaving just enough time to line up with the Silverlake hipsters awaiting the band that Metromix calls “one of the best-liked big-city bands no one has ever heard of.” Not that anyone hasn’t heard them – their music is an ubiquitous presence on both the big and small screens – but this beautiful quartet of men still fly under the radar in support of some otherwise recognizable names: The Lips, Matt Costa, Rilo Kiley, and The B-52s. I saw them play the Grove’s Apple Store a few weeks ago, a gig that promoted their latest single “Love is the Thing,” recorded solely with an iPod app. This month’s residency at Silverlake’s music sanctuary, Spaceland, is a backyard treat for eastsiders and the chance of a lifetime for those westerners daring to venture away from the mid-week beachfront happy hours. This past Tuesday, a roomful of self-proclaimed hipsters and music connoisseurs – drained from a seemingly endless week-long heat wave and a series of hillside blazes – gathered to bathe in the sounds of The 88, if only for a short while. Kicking off the set, “Sons and Daughters” seemed to quench some immediate expectations, once again offering credence to Spaceland’s residency program and raising the stakes at what felt like the secret concert that everyone else in the city missed.
While the Apple Store gig featured a more casual 88, tonight the band donned their usual 60s-inspired wardrobe to deliver their Brit-rocking beats to the Keds-wearing boys in their Forever 21 jeans. Bloggers can’t help lining up Merrin, Slettedahl, Zimmitti, and O’Keefe next to another pop band whose 60s-british sounds marked an historic invasion that unsettled the surf-rock phenom that was hitting its peak. Merrin may even try to argue that his band’s been together nearly as long as the Fab Four. Joking about how long the band has been performing, frontman Keith Slettedahl laughs, “It’s great to be back at Spaceland. I think we played here in, what, ‘91?” The crowd knows better and may even know when (2003) and where (Calabasas) the group first took shape.
Merrin all but stole the show during “Nobody Cares,” playing his keyboard almost inside-out. And some people just don’t need stools. If the board was raised to his height, we would see just how “down” Merrin could get.
“Love Is The Thing” set the crowd in motion with some twisting and the inevitable shouting. “Love” and “Not Enough” were personal faves. “Not Enough,” the second to last song of the night, seemed familiar – turned out that, no surprise, the track had wallpapered a scene during season two of Weeds. I loved the song’s irresistible angst and unexpected blend of rowdiness, heat, and pure pop. Fabulous! In between their September residency gigs, The 88 will open for the B-52s in Las Vegas on 9/19 and in San Diego 9/20. Pairings this melodious are better than anything you’ll find on match.com. The only thing missing from the evening, for me, was a take home copy of their latest CD. In this heat, thank goodness for online shopping. >> www.the88.net >> www.myspace.com/the88 Check out the full set of pics from The 88.
The 88 - Picking A Setlist