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photo by chriszak under creative commons’ attribution 2.0 generic license.

nicole & i went to see LSF at the fillmore at the TLA (or is it TLA at the fillmore?). it had been a while since my last visit, which was well before it becoming a live nation venue and quite possibly could have been the last LSF show i saw in 2001-2. despite having seen some amazing shows there, i’ve always hated the sloped floor and sound and stayed away accordingly. when i entered, it was predictably cheesier with y-rock banners hanging everywhere and a wall of photos from famous shows at EFC/LN venues. i saw kristin thompson walk in after us, i should have introduced myself. oh well.

LSF shows are always going to be remembered for tim harrington’s antics and he was as menacing and frenzied as ever. off the top of my head, these are some of the ones i can recall:

- coming out in a ruby-colored spandex top that covered his face, breaking a mic stand during the first song
- pulling as much mic cable as he could and going through the crowd, all the way to the back and up the steps to the balcony, taunting people with every step
- going into the crowd several times, both planned and by accident
- taking off his shirt and holding the microphone between his man-boobs
- holding the microphone between the rolls of his stomach
- introducing “what would wolves do” by conjuring the image of a zombie werewolf ben franklin emerging from the liberty bell
- coming out for the encore in what was meant to be a 14th century aristocrat costume but instead saying he was dressed as stevie nicks

what gets lost in the craziness is (and i’m as guilty of this as anyone) is what a powerful and yes, musicianly band LSF is in person. seth jabor’s quick but still in the right tempo delay guitar sound still kills and harrison haynes will always be one of my all time favorite drummers, attacking the new and old songs with equal energy. the set was shorter than i thought it would be at just about an hour including an encore of “raging in the plague age” and an extended version of “who rocks the party”. they played a lot of the new album, a couple of older songs and only one song from go forth. my favorites were probably my favorite songs from the records: “reprobate’s resumé”, “we’ve got boxes” and “plague age” stood out to me.

while LSF’s performance was great, it was an unevenly mixed crowd that gave the show an odd vibe. the TLA was maybe 3/4 to capacity, full but nowhere near packed with a lot of people in the bar/balcony area. a lot of moshers(?) in the front, a lot of people responding to harrington’s taunts with nervous laughter or looks of amusement. i can’t help but feel that the venue had a lot to do with the oddness of this show. the curmudgeon in me would chalk it up to tourists in attendance and kids not really “getting” this band but i don’t know. what is the proper reaction anymore? is there one? probably not.

this is what i remember of the set list, i’m sure i missed a song or two:

the equestrian
patty lee
the year before the year 2000
reprobate’s resumé
we’ve got boxes
what would wolves do?
slugs in the shrubs
rome
the sweat descends
raging in the plague age
who rocks the party