Ty Segall w/ G. Green, The Babs Johnson Gang and Pistol Pete @ The Hub – 1/18/11

So I had a mostly good time at The Hub in Sacramento, but I left the venue more than a little frustrated with the whole experience. Had I a few good friends at my side and had Ty Segall had not blown the doors down, I would probably said I had pretty shitty time. The crowd had to be one of the worst I have ever experienced what with all the moshing, shoving people over to get to the front, and overall disrespect for their fellow audience members. Ty Segall posed a question to the audience in defense of moshing, “What is dancing?” to which some replied, “Anything you want it to be!” I have a different response. Dancing is like sex, as long as it’s consensual and doesn’t cause untended harm, everything’s good, but when you’re the only people anal fisting at a bukakke party ,there is a problem. Similar to moshing in a crowd, it’s not something everyone signed on for.

Ty Segall is from San Francisco and their/his performance was the saving grace of the show for me. I was able to put his differing opinion on the “dancers” up front behind me as the music was absolutely great. There was an intensity to the performance that I felt all the way at the back of the space, and despite half the lyrics being screamed everything came though so clearly in it’s own lo-fi, psychedelic way. My favorite part of the whole set was the amazing fuzzed to hell and back, dueling guitar solo to close the set. It absolutely made my week.

Kudos to The Babs Johnson Gang asking everyone to “Chill the fuck out”, it definitely needed to be said. In a way, the band felt a lot like two acts in one. The first was a tripped out almost rhythmless band that prodded along though it’s songs. The second was a very focused and rhythmically forward group that had a more straight ahead punk feel. The fact that the two members of the band were in sync enough to keep the switches straight was impressive. They did have a pretty insipid moment repeating “I scream for ice cream”, though. I could have done without that one.

Thinking back on Pistol Pete one thing runs straight to the front of my mind about them, reverb. I don’t know how it happened, but slathering the lead vocals in reverb has become the cliche of choice for the DIY/garage/psych/(whatever to generalize it to) scene and Pistol Pete feel right into the trap. In their defense, I really liked the thick and fuzzy sound of their bass and the guitar had some moments of chime-y brilliance. It was, however, not enough to save their set for me.

To be perfectly honest I missed out on G. Green, heading instead to the bar down the street for a real drink with friends. Having seen them once before and needing to stretch my legs a bit with a walk, I was okay with skipping out. Maybe next time they’re at The Hub I’ll stick around and have more to say.

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