Event Calendar

14 August 2005

Gravy Train!!! (Lobot Gallery, 13 August 2005)

This was my first time at the Lobot Gallery in Oakland. Located in what seems to be the middle of nowhere, Lobot is this good sized loft/warehouse that houses some local art and the occasional show. It's located across the street from a baseball field and some trucking warehouses near the West Oakland/Emeryville border.

As 6 of us squeezed in a Subaru station wagon, our navigator relied on his vague memory via a bike route for us to get there. Surprisingly, we got there with no problems whatsoever. As all of us entered this place, it was as if I was transported to Brooklyn. It had all the elements of Brooklyn: (1) secluded area in the middle of nowhere; (2) it was dark all around; and (3) all these kids that are hipster/scenester and bike scenesters were there. The crowd was littered with a bunch of good looking and stylish kids. I was in heaven! And there was a dwarf (or was she a midget?) there that made the crowd even more diverse.

The beauty of Lobot is that there is no discernible alcohol policy so everyone, including us, brought shitloads of beer to drink. Let's just say we were able to finish all the beers we brought in, and that was a sizable number to begin with. Some kids were underage, but that didn't prevent them from downing the occasional tall boy or Pabst. There was also no discernible smoking policy, so people of all sorts were smoking their lungs away.

In the midst of all this cool atmosphere and eye candy were three bands. The Husbands, VIP and Gravy Train!!! I missed the Husbands, but caught a bit of VIP.

Lobot has no stage. They have an elevated platform that is only about 1 foot higher than the ground. Thus, this takes the whole concert going experience to a whole new level. The crowd is right in the band's face and when they go crazy, they go on stage and play. Also the sound and acoustics suck ass. But, I didn't really care.

VIP consisted of a bunch of gay wiggas rapping about God knows what. The only thing I can decipher is when they mention "VIP" somewhere in the lyrics. I didn't pay much attention, since I was busy socializing and drinking. But from what I saw as I waited in line for the bathroom, they were pretty entertaining. Talentless, but entertaining.

Enter Gravy Train!!! It's the third time I've seen this band and these guys just know how to throw a party and have some fun. Like I said above, the sound was horrible so you can barely hear and understand them. Not that you could understand Gravy Train!!! with good sound, but this made it even more impossible. I wasn't into them at first, but after all the kids were hopping around in the front, we decided to join them. Hell, if you can't beat them, join them, right?

So we did and we had an absolute blast! There was some guy with a stripped hoodie that was too ridiculous. He was over 6 ft. tall and he would hop around and run into people, and he leaned on them with all his weight. Thus, there were some unfortunate lightweights getting thrown around. Some guy warned him of this and told him to "take his advice for his best interest" and warned him that he knew jujitsu. Well, my friend came to the conclusion that the "advice" guy didn't know jujitsu because he ran away everytime stripped hoodie guy was close by. Pussy.

Anyways, so Gravy Train!!! were excellent not because their music was excellent but because they were so much fun! The whole place was dark, so I can barely see the band. Which was good because once the lights came on, the band member we affectionately call "Pinky" was wearing nothing but a jock strap and it exposed his rather large and black badunkadunk in plain view. Holy shit that was horrifying!

The highlight of the evening was the last three songs, where the entire audience just decided to invade the stage and hop around in it. I was there and I think I accidentally kicked the mic stand and a speaker whilst I was hopping around with the kids. I nearly trampled over the midget, which would have been awesome not because I may have hurt her, but because of the pure story value behind it.

Anyways, a fun night at a great space, despite the lack of sound, light and stage.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is a late comment but I was there and it was an AWESOME show.