When I Say Niggy, You Say Nothing.

Many of you have probably noticed Nic Ouzo's propensity to post about music and review various shows that he has been too. However, you may be surprised to learn that other members of our blog listen to music as well! Sometimes they even attempt to repay Mr. Ouzo for the countless concerts he has bestowed upon us by purchasing a ticket for him to a show. This was the case last night, and I dare say that it was money very well spent.

It's a rare opportunity for one of the WDR crew to actually introduce Nic to a new band/musician, because Nic worked in a radiostation and... well... is just way more obsessed with keeping his fingers on the pulse of music news than either Mr. Zhuang or myself. So it was with a rather stupid glee that I was able to purchase tickets and drag Mr. Ouzo along for an evening with Mr. Saul Williams, aka "Niggy Tardust".

We embarked on the journey to Portland's illustrious Aladdin Theater, and arrived just in time to see the line of people being let in for the opening act: Dragons of Zynth. Now Nic and I have a particular fondness for this venue, as we both witnessed what I believe I have license to call one of our favorite concerts: ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead and The (International) Noise Conspiracy, with fantastilarious opening act We Are Wolves. Now, I won't get into my concerns for our country's music fans being so clearly illustrated by that show being at least half-empty and this show being sold out; I will just say that there is no excuse for both not having sold out and you should all be embarrassed.

That being said, the Dragons of Zynth certainly put on a respectable show for an opening act. Their first song or two that we witnessed were actually enjoyable, and I foolishly began to think that we had happened upon a rarity in concert-going: an opening act that was actually good. Well, they neared the mark, but fell short as every song was just a little worse and a little more annoying than the last. However, considering that this was a hip-hop show and that Nic and I have both personally witnessed the musical atrocity that is These Arms Are Snakes (and Hella...*), I felt Dragons of Zynth were certainly better than what could have been. Though by the time they left the stage, there was a minor sigh of relief.

All that being said, none of the ever-increasing chaos of Dragons of Zynth could have prepared us for what was to come as Saul took the stage. We were first greeted with what I can only describe as The Uber-Hipster, with orange pants so tight and so bright that they rivaled the sun itself. At first we thought that he was just a roadie, but it made a little more sense when he actually ended up playing guitar. The rest of the band sneaked onto stage while we were distracted by the nuclear fission occurring on stage in pant-form. They consisted of crazy raved-out, mohawked CX KiDTRONiK who supplied a nice frenzy of glitchy hiphop from a massive drum machine/sampling console that appeared to the crowd more as a huge pile of wires and some tall goofy fellow on the keyboards whose name I didn't catch, but whose gesturing and sunken dancing through all the songs performed was a reliable source of enjoyment.

It was only after having absorbed the strange assortment of persons onstage that Saul Williams himself appeared and tied all the loose ends together. I defer to Nic's description of Mr. Williams, because it was so perfect I'm not even going to try to think of something better fitting of the sight before us. Taking on the role of NiggyTardust during this tour, Williams left behind his previous inclination to appear on stage looking half-hobo half-college student and instead ran into the spotlight as what can only be described as The Pimp Admiral. That's really the only way it can be described.

The next hour and forty-five minutes proceeded to rock us as well as any hip-hop act could ever rock. All the performances were spot-on, and several even sported new and/or improved guitar parts as performed by the nuclear hipster. The only shortcoming was a general difficulty in parsing William's vocals while he was singing or rapping, though clarity was not an issue when he spoke to the crowd of politics or racial harmony. I felt he did a damn fine job.

The setlist spanned a decent collection of his three albums, featuring an updated performance of his classic - "Coded Language", as well as several gems including "Grippo" and "Surrender (A Second To Think)". The only songs that were really missing were "Om Nia Merican", "Telegram", "Black History Month", and "Act II Scene 2 (Shakespeare)", although a particularly annoying member of the audience's decision to continually shout out requests for the latter made me just as happy to not have heard it. Maybe these would have been included if the venue did not have a rather strict midnight curfew due to it's location in a residential neighborhood. There really were no bad choices in the set. I might have replaced "The Ritual" with one of the aforementioned tracks, but given that it is a newer track and that it fit into the overall message and tone of this tour I'm not surprised that it was included.

Though all the performances really were superb, there were some standouts that bear mentioning. "Banged and Blown Through" was a masterpiece (making up for a somewhat lackluster vocal performance of the cover of "Sunday, Bloody Sunday") which revealed a musical talent missing from so much of rap (and even hip-hop) these days. "No One Ever Does" was another well-sung addition, and I personally appreciated a brief pause from Williams to comment on the song: how his perception has changed and how the sentiment is a regular but fleeting feeling. "Surrender (A Second To Think)" was performed with the intensity it deserved, and of course a standout was "NiggyTardust" which Williams approached perfectly, drawing the crowd in with it's chorus.

There was also a brief moment of terror when Williams presented the floor to CX KidTRONiK, who donned a white mask and proceeded to thrash about the stage, screaming out indiscernible words in a frenzy. I don't know about the rest of the audience, but I certainly feared for my life at least briefly. However, the mic was passed back into more capable hands after one song and the show certainly did go on.

It was certainly a night to remember. This 'review' is probably horribly inept, but I hope it captured some of the mood of the event, as it was truly one to remember. I'd also certainly like to hear Mr. Ouzo's notes on the evening.



*Good god, Hella... although I'm still interested to see if any of that monstrocity of sound and pain comes across as music on their albums where different instruments maybe were placed and proportioned well in a mix, so I attempt to reserve judgement. Attempt.