Le Tigre (Fillmore, 19 November 2004)

Beer Rating: 1/2 Beer

This must be the show of the year. If not, pretty damn close to it.

Le Tigre played a sold out show at the Fillmore on Friday night and it has to be one of the most entertaining shows of the year. From the first song to the last, Le Tigre kept the crowd stimulated with song, dance, and slides. This was especially a good show for me because I just learned earlier that evening that I passed the California bar exam. Add free drinks throughout the night, then it was only inevitable that this was going to be a fantastic show.

Though Le Tigre's subject matter is often heavy - ranging from the consequences of war, sexual abuse and harassment, police cruelty, clueless journalism - the band knows how to put on a party by wowing even the most fair weather of fans. Like their previous shows, their set-up at the Fillmore included an array of videos with a backdrop - from a karaoke like listing of lyrics for "FYR (Fifty Years of Ridicule)" to film creator Elisabeth Subrin's meditation on desire and office supplies. However, what sets Le Tigre apart from most bands I have seen is their stage presence. Their choreographed moves would make 'N Sync or S Club 7 look like poseurs.

The setlist spanned their entire three album discography, with a good majority taken from their latest release, This Island. Yes, the band left the indie recording industry and has sold out to Universal, but you would have never known it through their songs. "Viz," "After Dark," "On the Verge," and "TKO" seemed like songs that were on the previous two albums, Le Tigre and Feminist Sweepstakes, but that's not a bad thing (if it ain't broke, why fix it?).

Kathleen Hanna definitely took my breath away. Her stage presence was just absolutely amazing and I instantly fell in love with this woman. You know she was out there because she was in your face the entire time. Her screamy style of singing definitely caught my attention, and her constant dancing and jumping made want to take her home with me. What was also surprising was how pretty Johanna Fateman is. In her promo pictures, she really doesn't exert any sort of "sexiness" but on stage, she seemed like a full blown diva. JD Samson, the most masculine of all the members, was very entertaining with her pants, workout shirt and headband.

The highlight of the set were the last two songs. "Deceptacon" was played with so much intensity. You know the crowd was wanting to hear that song and once the opening riff let out, the entire place let loose. I was berserk, dancing like crazy. Even my friend Randy, who barely shows any emotion during shows, was smiling and tapping his beer glass in perfect rhythm.

After that song, Murray Hill, Le Tigre's MC and a one-of-a kind character that reminded me of Hardy of Laurel and Hardy, encouraged the crowd to yell louder. After we did our homecoming pep rally rendition of spelling of L-E T-I-G-R-E, the band came out and did the ever so good cover of "I'm So Excited." At that point, I was dancing even more crazily. And everytime Kathleen Hanna would sing parts of that song stacatto, it drove me mad!

The only thing that would have given this show a perfect rating is if they played my second most favorite song off their first album, "My, My Metrocard" and played at least one more song in their encore.

The old saying goes that the best shows are the ones where the band leaves you wanting for more. Randy put it this way, "Le Tigre were so good that I would never want them to leave! I want to take them home with me!"

Well said.