Yes, that audience member is wearing a camouflage hat with leaves on it.
Quasi is guitar/keyboardist Sam Coomes (former Donner Party, Heatmiser), drummer Janet Weiss (former Sleater-Kinney, current Jicks), and bassist Joanna Bolme. Every mention of the band is required to tell you that Coomes and Weiss used to be married to each other, but now they just focus on marrying fantastic sounds (ha, ha). Coomes' sometimes-almost-whiny vocals can be a little off-putting at first, but if you give the band just a few moments, its distinctive tough yet delicate sound will completely win you over. And the band is even better live than on its thoroughly rocking records.
Tuesday's show functioned something like an evolutionary chart for bands, with opener Hands and Knees' eclectic jams, intense drumming, and sometimes-strident vocals all suggesting a band that's practiced in the basement but is still working on its live act. Second opener Let's Wrestle came all the way from England with no place to stay (we hope someone offered them a couch to crash on), and charmed us with their accents and catchy punk-pop riffs (not to mention adorable drummer). The first two acts were clearly good bands at early stages in their development; then, Quasi came on stage to show the kids how it's done.
Quasi opened with "Repulsion" from American Gong, the band's latest album, and continued with lots of other Gong tunes such as "Little White Horse," "Black Dogs & Bubbles," and "Rockabilly Party." The "Black Dogs" lyric "a thousand silver tongues will tell you who you are" seemed reflected in Quasi's layered sound, suggesting that we discover our identity in other sources, music chief among them. Perhaps enjoying music with others even further enhances our collective self-definition; the Quasi show certainly felt like a community bonding experience, everyone entranced by beautiful sounds.
Let's Wrestle!
And just when we thought a show couldn't get any better, the band came back for a blistering encore that drew out "It's Raining" into a beautiful near-ballad, then stopped everybody's heart for a while (seriously, we almost called an ambulance) with a phenomenal Who cover. During "I Can See for Miles," everyone was probably all, "Janet Weiss is so Keith Moon," but that comparison doesn't give Weiss enough credit for her diverse career. Sure, Moon is an undeniable legend and was (literally) explosive with The Who, but Weiss has provided a lot of great bands with a rockin' backbone. There's something to be said for mixing consistency in with craziness.
Ultimately, a Quasi concert is way more than "some lefty self-help weekend"; it's an epic journey— something that can be said about far too few bands these days. And don't kid yourself that Quasi is an "opening band"; the group is solid (gold?) rock.
Our friend Jimmy helped reconstruct the set list for this review. So if anything's wrong, blame him.
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