“Are you guys here for the Camel event?”
Oh no, not again! Another favorite band has been humped by the Camel? The first time I saw this was at The Faint/Rattattat at Mezzanine in December, where I almost bought a pack of Camels designed by the band for a keepsake. Almost.
I don’t know if She Wants Revenge designed a Camel box for this show- but I do know that this event was much more intrusive than the other. Why do they not tell you this when you buy your ticket? If I had known it was another Camel event, I might have thought twice about going. The specific cigarette they are advertising is the No. 9, marketed to women. This is accomplished by completely copying Chanel. Go figure.
The Regency Center is home to the first place I worked upon moving to San Francisco. The many long nights and bad experiences made it hard to go back, but I figured that She Wants Revenge was the perfect band to see in such a place.
As we walked in, we were bathed in purple and fuschia lights as we were greeted by what I can only imagine are referred to as Camel girls. A Camel girl, by the way, is much less Hooters and more like Willy Wonka. We are directed to a Primp and Pamper lounge on our left, where you can get your nails and hair done- just in case you forgot to do that before you got there. There is a photo room on the other side of the foyer, with a photographer taking pictures. If it were a photo booth I’d have been all over it (see below).
There are freaky gogo dancers everywhere and DJ Aoki, who played a 2 hour set rife with dance worthy music such as Shiny Toy Guns, Hot Chip, Basement Jaxx, and Peaches. The room is full of decked out hipsters: from the Burning Man-esque platform shoe and makeup wearing boys to the ultra trendy girls in their Saturday night best. Two screens show suspiciously subliminal films that has content ranging from bands, beautiful people smoking, and army images. Pink camels are everywhere.
Finally around 10p Brazilian Girls came on. Brazilian Girls is really a misnomer, since it’s just one very mod looking chick, who’s apparently not even from Brazil, wearing the coolest neotard (a futuristic looking leotard with a partial tutu fused onto the sleeve). The bossa nova/samba beats begin- and you would never know that the lyrics are describing vulgar sexual relations and rampant drug use if you weren’t listening. The lead singer is very enigmatic, with her Chrissie Hynde bangs and her swaying profile. At the end of the set, the guitarist and drummer throw their instruments around a bit, in a post grunge “looks cool but doesn’t break anything” manner.
The She Wants Revenge that played that night was a much evolved version of the band I first saw last June. The shadow of a guitar player is now up front with Adam and Justin. They exude much more confidence than before. Justin’s performance has gone from eye catching dance moves to a full on emotional performance that is much more dynamic. While I was expecting to hear a new song or two from the album they are working on, they said that it wasn’t at a point yet that they wanted to share. Instead, we were treated again to the two songs left off of the last album, including ‘Black Liner Run’, as well as a cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Stripped’, which was awesome. They informed the crowd that this was their 5th time playing in SF, 3 of which I have seen, and we agreed that this was their best show so far.
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