Wednesday night at the Brick had what every Wednesday night needs: beautiful bodies, and a little debauchery among friends.
After an extended hiatus from live performances, local rockers the Beautiful Bodies re-emerged for a private, unpublicized concert. To judge by the crowd -- 75 or so people who comfortably filled out the small venue with beers in-hand -- the band members have quite a few friends.
In the interest of full disclosure: I know the the Bodies' drummer, Brian Jewell. In his day job as the manager of a very fine local drinking establishment which happens to be a solid football throw away from my workplace, we've gotten to know each other well. For the last year or so, he's overseen my appetite for red bull vodkas, older women and talking shit with the slightly judgmental, benevolent gaze of a disappointed family member. No one has ever given me a handbook on the ethics of music writing, but if the Bodies had played terribly last night, would I have effectively translated that to Wayward readers? I'm not sure. My red bull vodka therapy sessions are pretty fucking important.
Fortunately for all, the Bodies played just fine, and my moral dilemma was thankfully avoided.
I've never seen band perform before last night, but I'd heard that frontwoman Alicia Solo frequently delighted crowds with hip-thrusts and self-embracing bodily provocations that would push Shakira into premature retirement. Unfortunately, she seems to have tamed down her act. (She did announce near the end of the set, "This is the second time ever for me performing sober.") While not terribly wild, she showed off a smiling predilection for dropping F-bombs throughout the night. "I'm like, fuck," she said at one point. And let's be honest, who isn't?
Thankfully, Solo doesn't need stripper choreography to hold people's attention. Throughout the roughly half-hour set, she commanded the stage -- and the crowd -- with a sort of Avril Lavigne-meets-Courtney Love rebellion. (To be clear: I'd put money on the diminutive singer in a post-concert street fight.)
For those who aren't familiar with the band, the Bodies' music is high-octane, fun-loving, drum-kicking rock-and-roll. The concepts behind their newest music, five songs of which they played last night, cover late-night sexing ("Come On Over"), romance ("You and I"), and new love ("She's A Blast"). They are simple concepts that band members execute with professional skill, with a purely visceral result that is perfect for live performances.
Though Solo's voice was often drowned out during last night's set, she briefly showed off some high soaring vocal ability on "You're A Risk," the band's crowd-pleasing radio jam. She may have been saving her chords for a bigger upcoming performance this weekend: this Saturday's Buzz Beach Ball at Sandstone. The Bodies will open for headliner the Smashing Pumpkins, unveiling their new music for a predictably huge crowd that will dwarf last night's intimate gathering of enthusiastic family members and friends.
Set List:
Last Night, Last night (new)
She's A Blast (new)
You and I (new)
Come On Over (new)
You're A Risk (new, radio single)
Strut (old)
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Beautiful Bodies ROCK. Haters, get a life. You say you have one? Could have fooled me- spinning your wheels here, talking about something that supposedly isn't worth a crap. You just wish you could get half the attention this deserving band receives.
Uh-huh.
I like this band because I want to fuck the lead singer. I imagine that is a large part of their appeal. The photos are fine. Its probably not HDR in the traditional sense of combining multiple exposures. Even quick bursts of three frames would be hard to capture in this environment without motion blur. Filters for the win.
Yes, they still rock live...although I agree with Chad that the vocals weren't loud enough last night.
Im always blown away by the people who post anonymous trash talking comments on blogs. The people criticizing the band and the pictures weren't even at the show. I didn't go to the show and Im curious what people thought.
Id have to say the BBs have THE best live show in Kansas City hands down. I wish I was there last night to see if they still do.
Nooooo. Why didn't they announce it? I would have gone. I LOVE the Beautiful Bodies.
If you're going to trash someone, don't be scared to use your real name.
The instruments were too loud and Alicia's voice was hardly audible sometimes, but technical problems aside, I thought it was a fantastic show with a lot of energy. I really enjoyed their new set list and am excited with the direction they're taking the music.
I don't know Alicia personally but she seemed like a straight shooter on the mic and was very likable. Her stage presence was fantastic and despite "Being skinny but still fucking out of shape" she brought a lot of energy. I'm hoping to see her regain her groove and look forward to more shows in the future.
PS You're being over critical of the photos. It's not like he's selling these as art and I think they're some great shots. The filters, easy as they may be to apply, fit the style. There IS a difference between constructive criticism and being a pretentious asshole. Maybe you should spend more time analyzing where that line is drawn.
At the risk of sounding cheesy, I was blown away by the band last night.
Really, really good show.
i personally am glad she is no longer a part of the recent re-birth of pixel panda, her general aura kept me away from most of their performances, which were otherwise entertaining.
I can't really stand this band. Alicia is such a media disaster.
She will get added to a show for no reason other than she will go around town bragging about how she is opening for them. I remember when they were "opening for Nine Inch Nails" but instead it was just them playing the VIP bar at Starlight not even by the stage.
I like her as a person. She seems nice enough but there are way better bands out there that deserve more.
Hell, I really doubt there were 75 people here even. She seems to have the really good side of the public (I don't want to know how she gets that).
Last time I saw them play was in Lawrence and there were maybe 4 people watching them. They don't draw flies, despite what everyone seems to believe.
HDR FILTER = Lame way to take a shitty photo and try to make it trendy. It might help if they started with a quality image. These are not real HDR photos. This Scott Spychalski guy sucks balls and the band in question is ok.
What are you two idiots talking about? HDR is great, sure HDR pics aren't as cool as HDR video, but still
So the article is a music review about a secret show given by a band that's going to be part of a big-time event, and all you two can do is whine about the pictures? That's the best you can do to add to the discussion? Fucking lame-ass haters - stop jacking off in your mom's basement and make a positive contribution to the conversation, or just shut up and go back to your mutual World of Warcraft fantasies.
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