(a.k.a. Caesars Palace… in their native Sweden) were one of my favorite discoveries (along with The Raveonettes) through my previous job at Norwalk. Ah, Caesars… how I love thee… let me count the ways:
Sort It Out
May The Rain
We Got To Leave
Only You
Kick You Out
Paper Tigers
Out There
My Heart Is Breaking
Jerk It Out
Over ‘Fore It Started
Throwaway
Soulchaser
It’s Not the Fall
You Don’t Mean a Thing
Spirit
Punkrocker
I don’t even want to get into describing the other bands because they could only pale in comparision to the almighty Caesars, who should really be getting so much more attention than they have so far. (Also, I missed most of the Golden Republic, though the one song I did hear of them seemed pretty good.)
This was an all ages show, which meant that the room was full of teenage girls. How delightful… the show began with a totally darkened stage. The Caesars each came on stage one at a time, starting with the drummer who shushed the audience. When the lights came on, the music started along with their background videos.
Of course, the music was absolutely amazing: melodic and modern rock songs, harmonized vocals from the lead singer, lead guitarist, and drummer; loud crunchy guitars, prominent farfisa organ, throbbing bass, and crashing drums. If you’ve heard any of their albums, you know what I’m talking about.
Almost every song sounds like a potential single, which is no easy feat for any band. Their on stage rock theatrics were also entertaining: the lead guitarist tended to spray water quite a lot, he also would spin his guitar around and pretend to stab himself with it. The drummer was an expert at spinning his drumsticks around, throwing them up, and catching them.
The keyboard player doubled up on tambourine and would every so often go talk to the drummer and picked up some sticks to drum along with him. The singer even asked the audience “to keep Bjorn at his organ.” The bassist (with the crazy platinum blond curls) would hop around and do a few funny little steps back and forth. The singer was mostly all business, putting a lot of power and energy into his vocals and guitar playing.
I am so glad the Caesars decided to come back to San Francisco because they were so very amazing. Anyone reading this, I insist that you do yourself the favor of seeing them live. The albums are great, but their performances are even more impressive.
