We Are Scientists at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn (7/17/10)

We Are Scientists - The Great Escape We Are Scientists Tour Dates 07/21/10 Bottom Lounge Chicago, IL 07/23/10 Larimer Lounge Denver, CO 07/26/10 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, OR 07/27/10 media club Vancouver, Can 07/28/10 Neumo's Seattle, WA 08/01/10 Splendour In The Grass 08/03/10 Metro Sydney, Aus* 08/04/10 Princes Of Wales Melbourne, Aus* 08/06/10 Troubadour Los Angeles, ca 08/07/10 Slim's San Francisco, CA 08/08/10 Cellar Door Visalia, CA 08/10/10 Kilby Court Salt Lake City, UT 08/12/10 Record Bar Kansas City, MO 08/13/10 Old Rock House St. Louis, MO 08/14/10 Basement Columbus, OH 08/15/10 Brillobox Pittsburgh, PA 08/19/10 Pukkelpop Festival Kiewit, Belgium 08/21/10 Gampel Open Air , Switzerland 08/23/10 59:1 Munich, Germany 08/24/10 Lido Berlin, Berlin 08/25/10 Knust Hamburg 08/26/10 Luxor Köln, Nordrhein 08/28/10 Leeds Festival Leeds 08/28/10 Reading Festival Reading 08/29/10 Leeds Festival Leeds 09/03/10 Fountain Square Cincinnati, OH * with Ash Discography [2002] Safety, Fun, and Learning (In That Order) [2005] With Love and Squalor [2006] Crap Attack [2008] Brain Thrust Mastery [2010] Barbara

After two and a half grueling days of unsuccessful apartment hunting in Brooklyn, my attitude towards the borough wasn’t particularly fond. So by the time I reached Williamsburg to see We Are Scientists, I was feeling hostile towards anyone who seemed to look as if though lived comfortably in an apartment – whether it be a sprawling brownstone or a shared loft. The audience that night seemed to all have their housing situations in order, as many of them seemed to have come directly from the Siren Music Festival on Coney Island. The concert, which was the festival’s official “afterparty,” was full of sweaty, heat stroke victims, but despite this, they seemed quite forgiving towards the second opening act, Lightspeed Champion, whose act consisted of him pressing buttons on a boombox and belting out soft-rock songs. He oozed with schmaltz, right down to his never nude cut offs, but he seemed to fit in quite nicely in this particular Brooklyn neighborhood.

We Are Scientists took the stage quite late into the night, and Chris Cain and Keith Murray chatted with the audience frequently between songs. They had a booming rapport that reminded me of AM radio talk show hosts, but the audience seemed eager to laugh at all their jokes. Right from the start, they got on the audience’s good side by playing a number of their fan favorites, such as “This Scene is Dead” and “Nobody Move, Nobody Gets Hurt.” The familiar opening bars of the songs were usually met with a deafening scream, and the audience’s vocals usually overpowered that of the band.

Songs off their newest release, Barbara, were greeted with equal enthusiasm. “Nice Guys” was the first song on the setlist, and its repetitive rhythms gave the audience plenty to bounce to. Songs like “Pittsburgh” and “I Don’t Bite” were also seamlessly slipped in with older tracks, and unlike, say at a Weezer show, there was no clear preference for older material over newer material. Their drummer, Andy Burrows, (formerly of Razorlight) was a quiet but steady presence in the background and got quite a few whistles from the tipsy girls in the front. As a fitting way to kick off the encore, the band chose “After Hours,” their ode to endless nights of gallivanting and mild debauchery. However, the prospect of staying out all night is only appealing if you have a place to eventually go home to. Since I was currently homeless, I cut out early, after briefly considering sleeping in the sound guy’s booth.

♥ We Are Scientists

 07/20/2010 20:19:16 ♥ kate () ♥ wearescientists.com ♥ myspace.com ♥ @scientistbros