Our brilliant guest blogger, Britt Lundborg, attended last night’s gig and offers a full report! White Rabbits really whipped it out. And by whipped it out, I mean flew into a full-on furor at Bowery Ballroom last night. Entirely sold out, the room thrashed nearly as much as the Brooklyn-based sextet did on-stage. Super tight on every conceivable level, White Rabbits sounded big and boisterous throughout their fourteen song set, rolling cacophonous waves of percussion over the hungry audience. Highlighting the drums is this year’s “Bear” or “Whale” moniker - a musical trend infecting all sorts of bands from The Dead Weather to Surfer Blood to The Drums. This can feel gimmicky, but the extra rhythmic boost extended White Rabbits’ sonic power and propelled their set far beyond the sounds laid down on It’s Frightening, the band’s current LP. Spoon comparisons trail around White Rabbits given that, yes, there’s a piano here and, also yes, their tightly constructed songs are rife with jangly pop hooks. White Rabbits, however, own a spaciousness entirely their own. A theatricality almost. Lead man, Stephen Patterson, sings with passionate frenzy and plays the piano as though desperately attempting to distract two gunslingers itching to wreak some damage in a wild west saloon. Every time his fingers slid down the keys in a glissando, you ached to hear that ripping flourish again. Right from the start, they seduced the audience into a menacing grip with ‘Foxhunting’ and kept us in that taut cage throughout the set. Once they hit their big tune, ‘Percussion Gun’, we were bouncing like marbles on a drum. When they trooped off stage to mop their brow for the encore, surprise guest Skerrit Bwoy (the Major Lazer hype-man), popped on and wound us up to fever pitch. ‘When I say, White, you say, RABBITS!’ White – RABBITS! White – RABBITS! White – RABBITS! Out tumbled the band for their encore all a-grin and infected us with the euphoria they so clearly felt. Be certain to catch White Rabbits at Coachella Festival.
View more photos & download a White Rabbits tune AFTER THE JUMP…
was at the show. only complaint is that it was mad short…they came on at 10:40. the set ended at like 11:25 and then they played an encore. very cool band, but the brevity of it all left a bad taste in my mouth.