RevCo/Front Line Assembly at Gas Monkey

Show date November 14, 2017, Gas Monkey Live

I feel like this is "part 2" to my Front 242 at Granada post. Same era of peak popularity, same type of music, same vibe, same crowd (mostly men), but a different venue - the Gas Monkey. I do actually really like this venue, but I feel that it was too big for this show. I love a little elbow room, but in my experience when a place is too empty, it decreases the energy of the show. It feels a bit like they couldn't sell enough tickets. Like they weren't popular enough. Shows like these are in danger of being cancelled.

Promoters! Choose the appropriate sized venue! This would have been great at the Granada.

I'm sounding like the show was terrible. It really wasn't!

I arrived early enough to see all 4 bands...however the first two were not mentioned at all and I didn't actually even have any idea that there were going to be 2 extra bands playing. Bad form Gas Monkey! The show start time was correct however and everybody started on time. Refreshing!

I was afraid that I was going to end up being by myself but I was pleasantly surprised. At these industrial or EBM shows I'm not with my usual concert buddy crowd. But fortunately I've lived in the Dallas area long enough and made friends with enough like-minded folk that I usually have at least ONE person I know who is also there. John and Dwayne were my concert buddies for the night 😃

The first band was named Bit Rot and I actually liked them quite a bit! Although they did have one song called "Your fetus is gonna be a whore" that I could have done without - Abortion imagery on the big screen. I just looked away.

They finished their set with a cover of Roxette's She's Got The Look! I loved that so much!
Oh and I apologize for the quality of all of these videos. I had to reduce them to get them to upload. "Theater mode" looks the best.

The second band was called Chant...but I couldn't tell from their logo. I had to ask someone what it said. The guy who had been singing lead in Bit Rot was playing a guitar in Chant. I've noticed this a lot in opening acts - especially when there are multiple opening acts at a show. You will see some of the same people performing in more than one band. I liked them quite a bit...great EBM sound, very danceable.

So for once I actually liked all of the bands - even the unannounced opening acts - at a multi-act show.

This was a double bill with Front Line playing about the same amount of time as RevCo - about an hour each. Front Line Assembly came next. I was able to get to the front rail finally so my vantage point was excellent! I had seen these guys once before *I think* either at the Lakewood Theater, or in a small bar upstairs from the Lakewood? It would have been early 2000's if it was at all. Wikipedia says they had a short tour in 2003. That might have been it.

What great energy! What a great light show! I just couldn't stop dancing...but it seemed like everyone around me was just standing there. What gives people? How can you stand still when music like this is pounding you in the chest right in front of you?

I'm not sure what this one is called

I know this one is called Mindphaser

Here are my photos. Click one for a slideshow.

RevCo was next. Okay so for those who are not in the know, RevCo stands for The Revolting Cocks. A thing a person might want to avoid saying in polite company, so therefore the abbreviation, which is widely known. The group contains (among others) Paul Barker of Ministry fame and 2 singers for the duration of their set. Now, I'm not real familiar with their music - they had 2 songs that I knew I liked (Do ya Think I'm Sexy and Beers Steers & Queers), but I had heard enough of their music to know that it was going to be a great show. But I didn't know what they looked like, and apparently I didn't know that there were 2 different singers.

This show was a special reunion for their debut LP Big Sexy Land originally released in 1986. Al Jorgensen (he was called Alain at the time) was originally in the band.

The first half of the show had a guy all dressed in white who reminded me a little bit of Ronan from VNV Nation. Apparently he is named Richard Jonckheere, or "Richard 23".

This is Richard 23

This is Ronan Harris of VNV Nation

What do YOU think?

That part of the set had very "clean" sounding EBM with crisp beats and a more "traditional" techno vibe. Then he went away, and another guy comes out who is apparently Luc Van Acker, although I can't be sure (somebody help me out?). Flamboyantly gay, wearing a pink unicorn shirt but with a rougher voice. The other songs sounded great, but not too familiar. These with this 2nd singer were rougher, more distorted, more "crunchy". These were the songs I recognized, and even though my 2 favorite songs mentioned above were from this group, I actually liked fewer of them in total, but they were a bit more fun to watch.

Beers, Steers & Queers

Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?!?!

One thing that happened that I have to mention is that all 4 bands were having very serious sound problems. I don't know what the issue was, but the singer from every band was having microphone problems. When Front Line first came out, most of their first song was basically just music and the singer Bill Leeb standing over by the sound guy trying to get the mic to work. It appeared that there was only 1 semi-functioning mic available to use. I could tell they were very frustrated.  Poor Bill.