Tag Results: jambase
Jambase Review: San Francisco - August 7, 2011
Orange County genre transcending band RX Bandits delivered an ear assaulting, heart tugging and cardio heavy last ever performance in San Francisco. This show was truly special, and everyone in attendance knew it as they belted out lyrics memorized long ago and collided with one another in the pit. This band has grown from a third wave ska band into a group with eclectic progressive rock, punk and world music influences, and they’ve amassed a giant following of loyal fans over 15 years of excessive touring. The intense energy of their live show has a magnetic pull that keeps bringing people back to experience their music again and again, and this was the last chance to be a part of a RX Bandits show.
El Paso prog rock outfit Zechs Marquise opened up the night with a set of heavy jams. Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez, keyboardist for the Mars Volta, plays drums in this band alongside his bass playing younger brother, Marfred. Experimental rock juice must run through this family’s blood, as they grinded out song after song of complex drum parts, distorted muddy bass lines, metric guitar riffs, and melodic keyboard accents. All of these sounds intertwined with each other seamlessly, even while conforming to ever-changing time signatures. Zechs Marquise was a good choice to open the show, and the audience seemed to be in a trance while they nodded their heads to the multi-faceted sounds that came from the stage.
This trance was shattered by the time RX Bandits were about to take the stage. Chants of “RXB” melted away into cheers as frontman Matt Embree and the rest of the band took the stage and swung right into an adrenaline boosting set of songs pulled from their last three albums in mostly chronological order. “VCG III” and “Consequential Apathy” were played off of their 2001 release Progress, and they continued with a sampling of tracks off of the subsequent 2003 album, The Resignation.
The energy on the dance floor had been very high all night, but it got kicked up another notch during crowd favorites “Dinna-dawg” and “Decrescendo”. Fans yelled out lyrics in unison with Embree, and the dance floor grew more physical with the addition of many colorful mosh pit residents, including big shirtless sweaty guys, a couple who somehow could continuously make out while violently swinging each other around, and more surprisingly, a group of people that would daringly ballroom dance with each other through this precarious area when the floor opened up. I’ve always noticed that crowds at RXB shows are full of really friendly and happy people, and they create a very welcoming form of chaos.
