Let me start about by saying this: This was my first time at The Roxy, and now I can see how it earned it’s legendary status. Amazingly clear sound, probably the best I’ve heard in LA. The crystal clear sound helped out the crazy powerful voice of Nico Vega. According to their Myspace page Nico Vega is a three piece with Aja on vocals, Rich on guitar, and Dan on drums. It’s the same instrumentation as Snark faves the Yeah Yeah Yeahs with Rich layering his guitar with lower-string bass parts and looped noise/melodies. The sound does not come out in a YYY’s edgy/post-punk/poppy way, but in a ROCK POWER kind of way. It felt very heavy, from the pounding drums, to the wall of noise, to the insane power of Aja’s voice. The crowd was actually more packed for Nico Vega than it was for the Von Bondies.
Or at least it looked that way. It could be that this was an all ages show and all the high schoolers crammed a little tighter up to the front. The Von Bondies are a great, raw, plain ol’ rock and roll band from Detroit and that’s exactly why I needed to catch them live. The set covered the old and new, and it was a treat to get to see them in such an intimate room.
I’m looking forward to catching other great upcoming shows at the Roxy including Candlebox (hey they were awesome in the 90’s when I saw them with the Flaming Lips) and Mickey Avalon.
For more information about The Roxy and to see a schedule of upcoming shows visit their site here: http://theroxyonsunset.com/ and follow them on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/theroxy
PS: If you were at the show you may recognize this jackass with the hat.
