Sunday, March 29, 2009

Taxi Violence Twice

Corner Bar, 27 March
‘Jason, play something so these people don’t think we’re retards’. Taxi Violence. I’ll say it again: one of the country’s top live acts, and possibly the only band which renders me unable to choose between watching them unplugged or watching them come unglued. So on this night, Taxi Violence answered my prayers and decided to do both, in one night, on one stage. Yes, their ‘special guests’ were Taxi Violence, unplugged. Because they’re Taxi Violence, and they’re cool enough to play opening band for themselves! This was my Corner Bar debut, and what a shitty little venue it is! I am sure that it is infinitely cooler when packed to capacity with sweaty fellow music fans, but the turnout was fairly dismal. At least this meant we got great seats for the first set and it was cosy and intimate, the perfect acoustic act. The easy, quieter version of what they usually do will make you stop and go, ‘Hey, George actually has an outstanding voice!’ Yes, in the voice department he is well-endowed and it becomes even more overt when he’s sitting down with just one guitarist, taking their red rock ‘n roll back to basics.
And then it was time for the evening’s main act. A completely different face to what we had just seen, it was clear that this was the one everyone had been waiting for! The few people that were there had gees to boot and did a good job of making it feel like it was bursting at the seams with fans. The crowd’s pent-up energy exploded all over the place, along with George! It is a display of passion and furore, it is music as it should be, it is real. George involves his fans like I have never seen an artist do. We got a taste of some new material, and it tastes good!
Hats off to Taxi Violence for not only loving what they do, but doing it their way. This is not about money or image or attention. It is about the love for music. Live music, music with rocks in it. Taxi Violence embodies rock ‘n roll on the local scene, and for that I could never tire of what they are creating.

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