Sadly, I don’t have any pictures due to the shortcomings of my digital camera. I can’t emphasize the importance of an optical zoom if you buy one or you’re looking into your next one. Despite the lack of good photos, the Ladytron concert was quite good. The opener was some guitar-heavy act from Brazil with CSS in their name. They weren’t awful, they were quite memorable since they made me think of what Sleater-Kinney could be if they took some tips from Puffy AmiYumi across the board.
Ladytron definitely didn’t disappoint. They took advantage of the outdoor awning on the outdoor stage of Stubb’s with a projection system showing lava-lamp-like movies to match the mood of their songs. I especially enjoyed their use of it when they hit the stage during the opening song “High Rise” (hopefully my concert conspirator Mark will correct this if I’m wrong), it was a red screen with white letters showing up saying “Hello Austin.” Okay, it seems impersonal but this is an Electronica/Pop band so it’s more in the nature of the music’s genre. I was really impressed with Helen Marnie’s vocals because Electronic bands either succeed live or fail miserably due to the heavy technical aspects of their sound. There was some modification on her voice yet I could clearly hear her actually singing. They did the bulk of everyone’s favorites, or at least what I knew, “Evil,” “Playgirl,” “Blue Jeans” and “The Last One Standing” amongst many. They didn’t do “The Way That I Found You,” yet they saved “Destroy Everything You Touch” for the encore after a Shocking Blue cover (yes, the band that originally did “Venus” that Bananarama covered in the Eighties).
I know Ladytron isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. I do recommend their albums, especially the current one Witching Hour. They are mandatory for fans of Kraftwerk, Epoxies, early Berlin, later Underworld and the one they remind me of the most, Propaganda.