They Will Love You Like I Love You

The members of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are already rock stars. They don't need radio play. They don't need to be on MTV. They don't need the major label record deal that they have secured for their first full-length album, due out later this month. They are already playing to sold out crowds from New York to Cincinnati and beyond. Singer Karen O strutted across the stage at the Bowery Ballroom last Thursday like she owned the place, which, for all intents and purposes, she did. Along with Nick Zimmer on guitar and Brian Chase on drums (they have no bass player), the band did nothing if not give the kids in the crowd a show to remember. The ballroom was filled to capacity with fans eager to help the band kick off their spring tour, which will be ending at Irving Plaza in early May. With essentially no stage banter, the band launched into songs from both their upcoming LP and from their previous shorter releases. The crowd, presumably made up of most of the hip indie rockers in the city, could not have been happier.

Karen O, always the performer, wowed the audience with her attempts to drink beer and sing at the same time. Somehow this action, repeated over the course of the night, ended up being not only punk rock, but also artistic. Chalk it up to the music itself, perhaps, which is in perpetual limbo between solid fuck-you punk rock and daring, artsy maneuvers. Zimmer is a master of the guitar loop, and some of the best moments of the show came when he would lay down a loop and then stand aside while Chase accompanied it with an ever-changing barrage of drum beats. Eventually O would take notice and they would start the song. During such an intro to the song "Rich," Zimmer actually took out a camera and started taking pictures of the audience. He may be too cool to smile or comb his hair, but he is not too cool for souvenirs.

In a sense, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are poised to become the Next Big Thing. They certainly know how to please a crowd and how to write deliriously catchy tunes, and have attracted a good deal of attention from the media as well. The problem, however, might be in getting people to look past the Brooklyn hipster coating and the random pauses and screeches to get to the heart of the band. This is a band that was meant to be seen live. This is music that was meant to be played LOUD. One audience member who was handed a microphone at their Bowery show asked the band to play a Lou Reed song, or something with "a little heart." The band replied with a rendition of "Art Star" which was no less thrilling for O's neglect to sing half of the words. The amazing juxtaposition of O yelling "art star" over distorted guitars, followed by the band launching into a poppy chorus of "doo doo doo" cannot even begin to be captured in writing, and cannot even be fully appreciated at the volume at which most casual radio listening occurs. This is a shame, and you should feel bad for the poor fools who don't know enough to turn up their radios. The new album promises to have some incredible highs, with songs like "Maps"--and its chanted chorus of "Wait, they don't love you like I love you,"--and "Date with the Night," which is the group's first single. One can only hope that the world is ready for it. And if it isn't, I suspect the indie kids will still be around and happy to welcome their heroes back home.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Bowery Ballroom, April 3