CONCERT REVIEW: Elvis Birthday Bash, Lobster Quadrille, Lovesick Heartstabbers

By Frank De Blase Comments (0)

I often wonder what road Elvis would have gone had he not checked out on the throne back in 1977. Would he have taken up permanent residence in Las Vegas? Would he have been mentioned in the same breath as Englebert and Jones? I can practically hear the announcement over the loudspeaker: "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Flamingo Lounge, where it's two-for-one keno all week and seniors eat for free. But now, the moment you've all waited for. For one night only on our main stage, they'll love you tender, they'll save the last waltz for you, and you can keep your hat on - put your hands together for Presley, Humperdinck, and Jones!" Yup, I think he's better off where he is.

And his music was better off Wednesday, January 6, at the Dinosaur, where members of The Hi-Risers, The Goners, Slick Pelt, The Lustre Kings, Johnny Rabb, Los Straitjackets, and your truly got up to sing like the king. The dance floor percolated intensely and the on-stage jive was on fire. Elvis can rest in peace.

I can't think of a band I've enjoyed watching grow more than The Lobster Quadrille. There's just so much joy to be found lurking in the band's doom and gloom, and I liken its shows to a sort of old-time carny hustle. That's not to say the band isn't what it says it is, or that it works the crowd like candy butchers during a matinee. But the way the band members work independently is collectively seductive and mesmerizing. In the intimacy of the packed Abilene last Friday night, you could easily pick apart the various rudimentary elements. Yet by the time you were aware of the combined calamity and effect, you were already swept up in it. It was inspiring, haunting, and incredible, with frontman Solomon Blaylock leading the whole damned revival with utter glee. It was as if he had the whole flock in the lifeboat, but the lake was on fire.

The band's music has shifted as of late. It has shed a bit of the lace 'n' grace waltzing cotillion feel in exchange for a slightly more direct and speedier set of time signatures and tones, which come off urgent and even more intense. The crowd Friday ate it up - all of it. I felt cleansed, until the Lovesick Heartstabbers got me all muddy again. It was a full-on raging rock 'n' tonk roll for those that were still standing after the Quadrille's service. Nods to The Cure and The Clash were clever and fun, especially "Train In Vain," during which I swear the slide-guitar notes were actually laughing out of the amp.