The Bravery (Cafe Du Nord, 21 January 2005)

Let's see:

1. Scenester Hair? Check.
2. Scenester Outfits? Check.
3. Booming guitars ? Check.
4. Accompanied by synths? Check.
5. Stage presence? Check.
6. Good music? Umm...good music? Anywhere?

The checklist above represents how the Bravery were like. All looks, no music. This is the new buzz band of the moment and NME is already heralding this band as the next Franz Ferdinand or the next Killers. Are they kidding me? You know, NME has mislead me many times throughout the years. When they said that Gay Dad back in 1997 was the next Blur, I bit on the bait and was sorely disappointed. Oasis' Be Here Now as the greatest Oasis release? Yeah right! I should have learned my fucking lesson when the NME said the same about the Bravery.

Don't get me wrong. On MP3, the Bravery can churn out the tunes. The incredibly catchy "Honest Mistake," "Unconditional," and "Fearless" are outrageously dancy that I find myself strutting down Market St. on my iPod sometimes. But such songs, for some reason didn't translate well live.

First, the Bravery were hindered by a non-working mic on the first 3 songs of their set. This immediately made me disinterested in their proceeding songs. Although the instrumentation was very strong, not being able to hear the lead singer's voice made the first 3 songs unbearable. In fact, I was yawning uncontrollably during these songs, despite "Unconditional" and "No Brakes" being a part of those songs.

Second, the crowd in the back sucked. There was no energy back there and it showed. Maybe because they were as turned off as I was with the mic being off, but others just didn't give a shit. It seemed like we were suckered by all the hype behind this band and we didn't get anything.

Third, even when the Bravery were audible, the lead singer's voice was just not strong enough for the mediocre PAs of Cafe Du Nord. His voice did not carry and it didn't enable me to be even remotely interested. Even "Honest Mistake," which is my favourite song by the Bravery, was just plain flat. Even their covers were flat. It just never flowed.

Finally, there were many personal circumstances which prevented me from enjoying this show. After seeing The Arcade Fire three times before this show, the Bravery had a lot to live up to. I wanted theatrics, like how Will and Richard would bash each other. I wanted a strong voices like Win. I wanted eye candy with the band like Regine. See what I mean? It was just not fair for the Bravery under the circumstances.

Without the music, your band of pretty boys is just that . . . a bunch of pretty boys. Haven't these guys learned from The Faint? They needed more synths! Hell, more cowbell would be great too!

This was how bad the Bravery were: their openers were better than they were. The first band sounded like how the Bravery would have sounded like if their mic worked. Honestly, I thought it was the Bravery playing when in fact it was only the opener. Even the Peels, which is a female fronted band which is not new wave band unlike the two others, energized the crowd with their strong guitarwork and the lead singer's Karen O. like presence.

Beer Rating: 4.5 Beers