Melvins and Red Kross drew a pretty big crowd at the Waiting Room (9/23), especially considering it was a Monday.
When I arrived just a few minutes before show time I was nervous everyone had stayed home. There were only three other people milling around near the stage.
As the opening act Toshi Kasai started his bass wizardry, a few more people started to file in. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen an act quite like Toshi. With a MacBook and a drum box-type thing, Toshi pushed out chest caving bass notes with the occasional beep boop as images of mathematical frequencies were shown on a white sheet.
As the bass would get more and more intense, the frequencies started changing shape. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it from a musical perspective, but from an art perspective it was out there in a good way.
If anything, I found Toshi’s set inspiring. Here’s a guy touring across the country making crazy bass noise opening for the legendary Melvins. Don’t let anyone stop you from chasing your dreams kids.
Next up were the Los Angeles alt-rockers Redd Kross. Before this show I didn’t know a ton about Redd Kross, but they’ve always been highly recommended by my friend Tim, who is one of the biggest music aficionados I know.
After seeing Redd Kross’ set I can see why Tim digs them so much. These dudes had the place shaking! I heard a lot of different influences in Redd Kross’ songs, from Big Star, to Lynyrd Skynyrd, and even the Replacements. My ultimate conclusion: Southern fried KISS.”
Redd Kross played a full set over the course of the next hour with a mix of songs covering their entire career. There were a lot of people dancing and having a blast. The only craziness I witnessed was a guy in his late 50s getting blasted in a super tiny pit by a total juice head looking guy. I felt so bad for his unsuspecting victim. He retired to the back and didn’t come up front for the rest of the show.
After a short break it was time for the band of the night, the colossal Melvins!!
With a crazy space themed tunic, black Chuck Taylors, and a giant white afro, King Buzzo looked like a metal version of Robert Smith. Immediately, everyone in the front was singing along to “Sesame Street Meat” from 2014’s Hold It In.
Melvins did a great job keeping the crowd on their toes. With over thirty years of music to pull from, you never know what kind of set you’ll get. Also, kudos to Dale Crover and Steven McDonald for pulling double duty playing with both Melvins and Redd Kross.
Steven was quite the character. During Redd Kross’ set he had an all white suit and when he came back out for the Melvins set he had a crazy looking paint splattered suit.
Steven had so much energy, doing huge jumps during Redd Kross, but he kept things going for the Melvins set too, doing back bends and sliding across the stage. These guys have to be in their mid-50s but it didn’t seem to slow them down much.
Both Melvins and Redd Kross sounded really tight and had the club rocking all night. It was a lot of fun covering this show.
Melvins and Redd Kross are just getting started on their cross country trek. You can find them all across the U.S. now through November 6. Melvins have new music on the way and Redd Kross’ new album Beyond the Door is available now.
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Melvins Gallery
Redd Kross Gallery
