Gym Class Heroes – 3/23 Concert Review
A few weeks back I reviewed an album that I found last summer from one of the most intriguing, genre flipping bands around today, Gym Class Heroes. While the guys were, at the time, privy to a massive Myspace following, I had never heard of them until I did a random search to see which Myspace bands had the most hits. In the top ten, and boasting an intriguing mix of hip-hop, classic rock, and funk, I was immediately intrigued. You can read my review of their amazing second album, As Cruel As School Children, here.
Last night, at the smallest, stuffiest of Seattle’s many, sneery staffed venues, El Corazon, they put on one of the most energetic shows I’ve seen so far this year. It’s not just that they have a solid sound, that their music is something different and well written, these guys can work the crowd and were born to play live. In fact, I remember saying that last year when I first found their album and passed it to some of my friends. “These guys would be great live.”
And they were. Whether or not squeezing Travis and friends onto that tiny stage in an assuredly sold out show was a good idea or not doesn’t really matter, save the sweat drenched t-shirt that’s on the top of my laundry basket, and the numerous quantities of 16 year olds who may or may not have deserved to be smacked upside the head (damn being an adult).
And to be honest, that’s got to be the worst possible thing about any Friday night, all ages show, especially for a band that found its greatest success on Myspace – the legions of kids. Maybe I was spoiled by my Modest Mouse outing on Wednesday, but I forgot just how many 16 year olds will come out for a show that they can actually get into. I’m not bashing on the kids though. They make the music scene happen. I’m just pointing out that when one is only 16 years old and finds it necessary to continually elbow me in the chest you will very likely find yourself facing a couple of much older, and mildly angered concert goers. That’s all.
Forget the kids though. One thing they’ve got is energy, and Gym Class Heroes are a band that thrives off of energy. Travis, the band’s MC and writer, is something else as a frontman, a 6’5″ tower of energy, trying to ignite as much of the female fueled love in the room as he can. And for that matter, he does a pretty damn good job, often slowing down the set, getting to know the audience and talking up the set and the show.
It’s not your typical hip hop bravado though. It’s not about trash talking or dishing insults; it’s hip hop poetics infused as much with love and sensuality as good old fashioned goofing around. El Corazon never has offered the best in sound or stage space, but its a great venue for up close, close quartered fun with a band like Gym Class Heroes. Whether belting out their most popular tracks, B sides from early EPs, or freestyling on literary theory references, Gym Class Heroes never quite let the energy die down.
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