James Chance and the Contortions-NYC 11/13/10

[schwenko]

I attended this show last night and was very happy that I did[:)].
This was THE legendary James Chance and the (original) Contortions (except of course the dead ones), No Wave jazz/punk/funk extraordinaires!

First a few words about the venue; Le Poisson Rouge, on Bleecker Street in the Village (formerly The Village Gate). They have had a very interesting and unique schedule over the past year or so. It's a small jewelbox of a space (slightly, but not much, bigger than Maxwell's). Sound and lighting were great.

I had 2 main concerns going into this performance:

1) Did James still have IT? (its been 30+ years)
2) Would the music be accessible, or would it be total snarling/honking noise/performance art (cf. Teenage Jesus).

The answers, respectively are YES and (mostly) ACCESSIBLE).

Although James has put on a few pounds over the years (haven't we all), he still was a dancing, screaming, sweating shouting banshee. Thankfully he didn't venture out into the audience to confront it/punch it out.

Most of the music was totally accessible and danceable. Afterwards I came to the conclusion that it was quite similar to "Speaking in Tongues" funkality.

Highlights include "Hell on Earth", "I Can't Stand Myself" (the encore), a cover of "Chain of Fools", "Contort Yourself" and the spectacular "Super Bad". Most of these songs benefited greatly from the vocals of Adele Bertei.

Pat Place contibuted her usual solid bass work.

The following song clip was not one of the more accessible ones IMHO.

http://videos.wittysparks.com/id/879487607

[Frau_Blucher]

Great review. Thanks Schwenko. It makes me wonder where people stay plugged into vital shit like this. Is seminal art rock, punk, post-punk, etc being discussed on any forums or whatever anywhere?