I took a few photos at Harlem’s Mercury Lounge show yesterday. If you’d like to see them, you can head on over to Impose to check them out. It was a good show, but I’ve come to expect nothing less from Harlem. Despite the blizzard going on outside, they played to a decently full room, thought it was mostly populated by Matador people. Matador people because they’re putting out Harlem’s new album, Hippies. The show was definitely more of an industry affair. Harlem could not have been more hilariously aware of this. They started off by saying “If you came to see some professional Brooklyn band you came to the wrong place.” The band is downright hilarious, and part of their appeal is their magnetic, raucous personalities. Not only do you want to watch Harlem play, but they’re one of those bands you want to hang out with afterwards. They normally use an enormous kick drum, but someone from Matador got them a tiny, tiny drum kit, which became a hilarious running gag throughout the evening. Despite the formality of the affair, they sweatily plowed their way through a run of songs from the new album, and everything sounded effortlessly rock and roll. Harlem is the genuine Austin article, and all three guys have personality coming out of their eyeballs.
Not only that, but they’re nice, too. I overestimated how much time it would take me to get to Mercury Lounge in the snow, and arrived ten minutes early. I walked inside, and was immediately informed that I would have to come back in ten minutes, “when the doors open.” Even though I asked nicely if I could wait inside, because, ya know, there was a blizzard outside, I was told no, I had to come back. COME ON MERCURY LOUNGE. Seriously? That was an effing lame move, dudes. Harlem, being the nice guys that they are, overhead and started to argue on my behalf. I didn’t want to cause any trouble so I just went out and grabbed a slice, but clearly they’re good people. And I like bands who are good people. AS for Siberia, they were a tight punk outfit; their bass player was especially excellent. I think they could actually be a pretty cool live act, but they need to be a bit more creative with their songwriting and amp up the energy on stage. Then again, they were playing in the middle of a blizzard.
