Dirty You Up Some

Electric Six @ The Bell House 9/25/2013
Electric Demons In Love / After Hours / Down At McDonnellzzz / Adam Levine / Jimmy Carter / Jam It In The Hole / Gay Bar / Gay Bar Part Two / She’s White / Hello! I See You / Steal Your Bones / Show Me What Your Lights Mean / Clusterfuck! / Danger! High Voltage / Formula 409 / I Buy The Drugs / We Were Witchy Witchy White Women // Nom De Plume / Dance Commander

Electric Six “Show Me What Your Lights Mean”

I just looked over my archives and realized this was my first Electric Six show since 2010. They’re pretty much always on the road and pass through New York at least once a year, but I remember having a lot of bad luck with scheduling the past few times they’ve played here. It’s always a let down to miss an Electric Six gig because they are a guaranteed good time: The sets are heavy on the “hits,” and the audiences are always eager to dance and rock, and Dick Valentine is always going to be a hilariously over the top showman. There’s no one else like him – he fully inhabits this scathing satire of masculinity, hard rock, and show business while fully embracing it all the same time. It’s all deeply ironic and self-deprecating, and yet totally straight forward in delivering the thrills of rock music and unrestrained ego. They played at least one song from each of their nine (!) albums, including three from the forthcoming Mustang. (“We’ve got a new album…it’s on Craigslist.”) Of those cuts, I most like “Show Me What Your Lights Mean,” which was played after a surreal monologue about high school football and playing a 34-date tour of Texas. It’s a good example of latter day E6 – a little less obvious in its satire, but very vivid and funny in the way it examines the fantasies and confusions of straight men.

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