Brain Surgeons Gig, June 6

[Jeff Berry]

Brain Surgeons at Baggot Inn, June 6, 2003

An evening of firsts for me.  First time seeing the Surgeons as a power
trio, first time at the Baggot Inn, first time at a club gig since the NYC
smoking ban went into effect, and probably a couple more firsts if I
wanted to think about it a bit more.

The Baggot Inn is a cozy little place, and since I don't smoke, made all
the more pleasant by the smoke-free atmosphere.  Pleasant enough, in fact,
that I might make more of an effort to overcome my usual disinclination to
go to bars to see bands.

The setlist was nice mix of old and new (and available on the Cellsum
website):
Dr. Music, Name Your Monster, Cities On Flame , Il Duce, State of Emergency,
Time Will Take of You, Language of Love, Godzilla

Overall the show was pretty good.  There were a few rocky moments - starting
with Dr. Music when Albert's mike stand kept falling over forcing him
to grab it and reset it while playing and singing or sing with
his chin on his chest.  That got sorted out by the end of the song, though.

There was a false start on one song somewhere as well, and in a few
places a little rust showed through.  Then, of course, there was the
anti-climax of what I think was a bass drum-pedal giving way on the intro
to Godzilla making the question, "What is it, what does it sound like?'
have an answer of a sort of muffled thwack.  However, such minor bits
of equipment failure pale next to the legendary Pyramid Club gig of '95.

That aside, though, the show was quite good.  I was interested in seeing
how they worked as a trio, and the answer is very well, thank you very much.
Deb turned in a more than creditable job on guitar, no mean feat since
she's filling two complete sets of shoes.  David was as always a pleasure
to hear and Albert remains a joy to watch in action.

One of the high points of the evening was Il Duce, a song which was new to me
and which I believe I heard Albert say that BOC had recorded for the Fire
of Unkown Origin album, but which wasn't released. Il Duce is a David Roter
song, and I was sorry to hear that he was no longer with us - the latest
in  a list of BOC/BS/Bouchard collaboraters to pass away.  Here's hoping
the Brain Surgeons record this track for their next album.

This was the first show in the latest tour, and it promises to be a good
one.  With just another couple shows under their belts, the rust will
be knocked away leaving nothing but the steel beneath.

Jeff-Bob says check it out.
(tour dates also on www.cellsum.com)

copyright 2003 Jeff Berry