This show was up there with the Unlovables / House Boat / Dear Landlord / Copyrights show at Fontana's last year when it came to spiking the anticipation meter. You may remember that I had loved the Shorebirds record and lamented that they had never made it out East before imploding. The RVIVR 7"s and full-length were just as awesome, so I was looking forward to taking in a good number of the four local shows on this tour, especially as they were with local powerhouse Iron Chic.I hit the bike and rolled into Death By Audio just as Slingshot Dakota were finishing. The room was full enough to make me paranoid that the perennial unnannounced lineup change had occurred, but it appears that it was merely SD and their remarkable local draw. The show proved a fine opportunity to assert myself as the weird old guy who shows up by himself and might be a narc. While I was at it, I made a sideline of seeing the hot bike girl I always think is gay at the shows, not being able to stop looking at her, then garnering the glares of the boyfriend I always forget she has. These things are comfortable in their familiarity.
Iron Chic were up next, seemingly hell-bent on knocking back as much cheap canned beer as possible before they went on. It didn't seem to hamper the proceedings that much, save for the interesting pawing of some dude in the front by the bear (ahem) ish frontguy. Either way, Iron Chic are pretty fucking great. A motley looking crew, but there's really nothing pretty about punk rock, is there? Not the longest set in the world, but a good one with a decent response from the kids up front.
RVIVR took the stage in short order, perhaps owing to a curfew? No arguments here. The crowd seemed to swell again and I found myself in the middle of a curious bunch of scruffy gay indie rock dudes. Not that it swayed me either way, but it was a pretty gay vibe throughout the evening, in the young and in your face sort of way. Meaning that there was open man to manual stimulation going on way to close to me, part and parcel with a gang of bike dykes sporting thrash caps and very much feeling the female 50% of the RVIVR franchise. While I'm dwelling on questionable fashion trends instead of music, let me say, Canino: cut the mullet, and let's move on.
RVIVR played kind of a short set, although they were pretty tight for the most part. The band was both grateful and surprised at the turnout and the response, although evidently not to the point where they had learned any encores. It's a bummer that they are so far away, as there were more than a couple songs I would have like to have heard. I was stupid enough to miss the Tomkins show the next day and not plan properly for the East Rockaway show that closed the proceedings. I continue to be plenty bummed about that. Don't make the mistake I did. Head over to the RVIVR and Rumbletowne web presences and support this awesome crew.
R
