Conference decc::radio_radioes]radio_radio

    After having spent the previous night at this same venue (Avalon)
    for the Chemical Brothers/Orb show, I would have been happy to
    just stay awake for tonight's show.  As it turned out, the show
    was invigorating enough to make me forget all my drowsiness.

    The openers were Skunk Anansie.  A perfect companion act to
    the Rollins Band, they do the "shouted vocals over loud music"
    thing, but with more variety.  Some stuff sounded Rage Against
    the Machine-ish; others, more funky; still others, more ballad-ish.
    The lead singer was match for Rollins in the "imposing frontperson"
    contest -- she was downright scary (and, therefore, fun).  Hopping
    and running all over the stage, licking her guitarist's bald head and
    grabbing audience members' hair, she was a "all eyes on her" presence.
    While they were fun to watch, Skunk Anansie's music tends to be a bit
    on the trite/predictable side.  It seems fairly sanitized at times.
    Still, I've had worse times.

    On to the Rollins Band.  I think this may have been the best performance
    I've ever seen them do.  Rollins belted out the songs well and the
    rest of the band was dead on.  He dipped into some of his between-song
    lectures (we got one on cigarettes this time -- for the record, it
    was amazingly smoky the night before at the Chemical Brothers show;
    this night's smoke content was relatively mild by comparison).  I
    didn't recognize some of the songs (new?  old?  I have no idea), but
    the set was well-paced, full of energy and generated a good old-fashioned
    moshpit (moshing happens a lot at shows, but this time, a pit started
    and stayed throughout the show -- something I hadn't seen in a long
    time).

    Anyway, this was well worth losing more sleep over.

                           - Paul

    Rollins Band set-list following the form feed


    Low Self Opinion
    On My Way to the Cage
    Divine Object of Hatred
    Shame
    Inhale Exhale
    Spilling Over the Side
    Saying Goodbye Again
    You Didn't Need
    The End of Something
    Destroying the World
    Disconnect
    ? "make you walk away"
    Starve

    Liar
    ? "I Like You But I Don't Like You"
    ? "I Don't Break"