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LIVE: The Raveonettes Suffer From SXSW Burnout
Monday March 24, 2008 @ 02:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff
March 21, 2008
Opera House
Toronto, Ontario
By Liisa Ladouceur
Damn you, SXSW! For weeks, those of us not traveling to Austin, Texas have to read of your gazillion gigs and BBQ parties. We temper our envy with the anticipation that some of your hot tips will roll through our towns next, as they tour around North America to support their big Texas adventures. But this year, you've taken that from us too. With your new "Up to four showcases a day!" system, you've been a hog.
The Raveonettes played 12 times during this year's SXSW, which was probably great for everyone at the festival, but hasn't turned out so great for the audiences catching them in its wake. The smokin' Danish duo cancelled a gig in Detroit last week, citing post-fest exhaustion. While they made it to Toronto, after squeezing in a performance on MTV Canada plus an acoustic in-store set at Sonic Boom, they then ran out of steam for the actual show.
Their grueling promotional activities attracted a packed crowd to the Opera House, pumped to hear selections from the group's latest, Lust Lust Lust. Now, if all you wanted was to see the bewitching platinum blonde bassist/vocalist Sharin Foo up close and in person and take home a T-shirt, it was a fine time to be had. But those of us looking for more of a rock 'n' roll show might as well have just stayed home and played the record with our fog machines on.
Maybe Foo, guitarist/vocalist Sune Rose Wagner and touring drummer Leah Shapiro are too cool to bother doing or saying much (which might, after all, mess Foo's perfectly coiffed bangs). Maybe the sound just needed to be louder (or, as the dude in front of me kept yelling, feature "more feedback!"). Or maybe they truly are pooped, but their '50s vocal harmonies mashed with Jesus And Mary Chain fuzz and B-movie lyrics — normally a gothy groovy good time — were more dreary than dreamy, particularly on the new songs "Dead Sound," "Aly Walk With Me" and the appropriately titled "With My Eyes Closed." Their older B-flat major classics "Attack Of The Ghost Riders" and "Bowels Of The Beast" were suitably spooky and gave way to a somewhat spirited version of the awesome single "You Want The Candy," but it was too little too late. Sweets or sleep — whatever they need I hope they get it before they come back.
 
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