Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Brixton Academy, London, 11/12/2010

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 4 / 12 / 2010

intro

At what was their thousandth show, Anthony Strutt at the Brixton Academy watches San Francisco rockers the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, despite having lost their regular drummer, play two career-spanning sets of furious rock 'n' roll

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are tonight playing their thousandth show and wanted to make tonight special. They do just that. Originally planning on playing for two and a half hours, we get just two hours ten minutes in two sets instead with no encore. Tonight, they, however, take us on a journey, playing a selection of tracks that get the audience jumping up and down from the first song. They play in the first set a number of songs, about four or five, from each of their first five albums. Each song is dark, fast and real rock in a world that is filled with too much pop, The noise that comes from the stage from just one guitar, one bass, a piano sometimes and a female drummer, who has replaced Raveonettes drummer Leah Shapiro (who played on their sixth and latest album, ‘Beat the Devil’s Tattoo’), is huge. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club leave us for a few minutes after about seventy minutes and then return for the second set. An older guitarist joins them for a number, while another older dude who couldn't be there does an introduction on tape, that older dude being Iggy Pop, before the band rip into ‘Real Wild Child’. They play a number of other covers before ending the night by playing a huge chunk of ‘Beat the Devil's Tattoo’, showing us they may have lost a drummer but not their talent or rock ’n’ roll spirit.

Band Links:-

Picture Gallery:-