[ATTENDED: May 4, 2023] Liily
I wasn’t even entirely sure I was going to go to this show. I only really knew one song by The Walkmen. But I decided that I wouldn’t stay home. I’d go check out this reunion show.
The opening band was Liily who I had not heard of before. They came out–a four-piece from L.A.–and Charlie Anastasis the bassist (who had an awesome mop of curly hair), played a chord that rung out and feedbacked for about 90 seconds. All the while the singer Dylan Nash stood at the front of the stage kind of confrontationally.
Then the band kicked into “Wash.” It had a stomping bass and squealing guitars from Sam De La Torre. But it was drummer Maxx Morando who soon claimed all my attention.
Nash was a dynamic frontman stalking around the stage. I wished I could see De La Torre a little better because he was doing some really interesting things on guitar–lots of high-pitched noises and non-chords. But he was across the stage and didn’t really come into focus all that much.
Plus, I had Anastasis to and Morando to watch. Although many of their songs were fast, there were a couple, like TV or Not TV that slowed things down but didn’t diminish the intensity.
But they followed that with “Boom Boom” which was played at breakneck speed. Anastasis flung himself around the stage (but never fell over) and as the song ended, Morando hit his cymbal so hard it was like he had a personal vendetta against it. In fact, in the following song, it tipped over it was so loosened from what happened earlier.
The wonderfully named “Cypress Chill” has a bass line that is very much like a Cypress Hill song–slow and stonery.
In the next (unknown) song, Morando was a maniac and he continued to be for the rest of the set. Applause starts out with a series of woodblocks hit in an intense pattern, along with some big bass notes.
They played two covers “Confidence” by The Intelligence–a band I’d never heard of–but who fits perfectly with Liily’s sound. And after what seemed like a set-ending “The Suit That Sold Itself,” they started on “Break Stuff” by Limp Bizkit. And they proceeded to break stuff. It was the last show on this little tour for them, and they ended it in a really fun way, with Morando moving his hi-hat to the side of his kit and then proceeding to knock all of his drums over. It was a spectacular and memorable display.
Its strange how much more intense and deranged their live show was than what their albums sound like. I much prefer the live version. I loved their set and it made me really glad I came to the show.
- Wash
- TV or Not TV ∇
- Boom Boom
- Cypress Chill
- unknown
- unknown
- Applause
- Confidence (The Intelligence Cover)
- The Suit That Sold Itself ∇
- Break Stuff (Limp Bizkit cover)
∇ TV or Not TV (2021)
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