Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Paradiso Amsterdam, 17 July 2013

I was excited to see this band, but to be honest this came out of no where. I was not sure at which point that the excitement switch turned on for me but it was certainly not when I did the obligatory Youtube the band moment, in fact as time after purchasing the tickets passed my interest and excitement began to wane and I found myself getting less interested in seeing them.  Then, the night before the show I found myself talking to two different people about what they liked about the YYYs. One (JP) the lover of the old albums and Angus the lover of the new, and then me, the lover of none. But the debate started to re-spark my enthusiasm and the day of the show JP came over to my place pre show and played me a few more songs and these were pretty good, and I was back on board.

Let’s be honest, it is a rock band playing Paradiso on a Wednesday night, how bad could they be?


When Karen O took the stage I was shocked, and I was not really sure why. What she did do, was to bounce out onto stage “full of life”.  Maybe like she had just had her fill of “Emily’s Amphetamines"? This blew me away. I mean really out of the box. And by the end of the evening this band had rocketed into the ten live acts of the year and probably the top 5.

First off, this show was very much a rock show and upon reflection it was very reminiscent of a festival show, i.e. the show lasted just over 45 minutes plus encore and there were a whole lot of hits played. This was not a disappoint because I had somewhat expected this as they had just finished the summer festival tour circuit in Europe. 15 songs in total and strangely I was happy with that, and whilst more would have been fine I didn’t feel I had been cheated at all.

Did I happen to mention what Karen was wearing when she strutted on stage? Well she was adorned by a rhinestone jacket with lovely angel wings on the back and a small pair of hot pants and a t-shirt that may have had pictures of one of the band on it.

So I hear what your burning question is, Jason what did they sound like?

Well they punched out great rock/ pop anthems one after the other. Also the band brought a huge amount of energy to the stage and each of the members seemed to be really good, no passengers here. There was more than one time when I felt the band had a Metric feel, particularly the Karen/Nick - Emily/James dynamic and the sheer amount of energy both bands brought to the stage.

One thing that is evident from the first few moments that Karen O struts her stuff on stage is that there is a very sensual aspect to her performance and at times you even think this borderline pornographic, but all up it is just theatre. Actually, theatrical beyond belief. I mean it is not often that confetti is fired into the air and across the stage several times in a show at Paradiso, not to mention watching Karen take a mouthful of water and then spray it up into the air like a fire breather every few songs.

I have questioned myself several times, why did they strike such a chord with me? Why did they make such an impact? And I really can’t put my finger on it and maybe that is what makes a great performance. They won over the crowd with just doing what they do and everyone left the venue smiling.

This show was one of those ones that I love, with no real expectations can come nothing but joy.

All up I love the show and I would go and see these “guy’s” anywhere, any time and there performance will take a lot this year to push out of my top 5 shows of the year.

JV