Sabbath, Spears, & Smoke

Saturday I headed down to the Landing here in STL, which is a spot right along the river where lots of clubs and bars and individuals of ill-repute tend to conglomerate, to the club Mississippi Nights to see the Dresden Dolls, a band of very GOOD repute. Partially I was going because I haven't had lots of chances to see live music here, and partially I was going so my clothes would get absolutely saturated with second-hand smoke, and partially I was going because I've heard some good things about the band, and partially I was going because I went to high school and did theater with Amanda, one of the band members. They're an interesting group. It's just Amanda on keyboard and another guy on drums, and that's it. But they can make some amazing music together, and the crowd was big and very into it. I was impressed. Not only by their musical prowess and ability to generate a great sound with just drums and a keyboard, but also because they covered "Hit me baby one more time" and "War Pigs" in the same set. Back to back. Now tell me, how often do you go to a concert and hear Britney and Black Sabbath in one sitting? Yeah. "War Pigs," by the way, was phenomenal. These guys are picking up lots of steam. There were lots more people there than I thought there would be. They were also supposed to play Lollapalooza this summer, before it got canned. Be on the lookout.

So this marks the first time that a band with a geographic name has actually been good. Well I'll be darned.