Coachella: !!! Deliver Saturday's Finest

If you ask your Indio-bound buddies which band delivered The Set Of Saturday and they answer with anyone other than !!!, we can explain: They weren't at the Mojave tent at approximately 6:40PM, when the dance-punk octet brought fire to the desert. Nic Offer's impossibly short shorts in full effect, the manic frontman-of-the-year stretched and smirked, snarling "Oh you guys have been waiting for THIS, haven't you?" -- met with the tent's deafening assent. Nodding to the noise, Offer offered: "Yeah, us too." With that, the raunchy rocker launched into his arm-flailing convulsions and patented pelvic thrusts as the band cranked a relentless "All My Heroes Are Weirdos."

We haven't checked Chk Chk Chk since last summer's Øya Festivalen in Oslo, prior to the release of their return-to-form funk-slammer Myth Takes. But the classics are still just that; "Pardon My Freedom" was second on deck, Nic acting out each "Like I give a fuck" as disparate characters (defiant punk terrorist with one pass, effeminately obstinate Valley girl the next). "Heart Of Hearts" brought a treat for the myth takers with vocalist Shannon Funchess reprising her studio vocal for the craziest crowd we've seen yet.

"Yadnus," "Must Be The Moon," non-stop, straight killer. We ran into our old friend Naeem Juwan (a.k.a. Spank Rock) later in the night, and he concurred with the crowd: "I've watched 'em a lot lately, and that was the best !!! show I've ever seen." (More from our night with Spank Rock TK.) Between hopelessly imitating Nic's moves (not a pretty sight), we took around 300 pictures, the best of which you'll find after the jump.

Posted at 6:43 PM in Concert
Tags: Chk Chk Chk | Coachella

8 Comments

!!! are a killer live band. Unfortunately, the only time I ever saw them, they were opening for Modest Mouse the first time I saw Modest Mouse, and I was not really in the mood to sit through an hour and forty-five minute opening set, but nonetheless, they have skill.

Posted by: Nate at 04/29/07 8:34 PM | Reply
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Among other things, I want the bass player's T-shirt.

Posted by: Paul at 04/29/07 9:36 PM | Reply
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the bass player is JESUS ALMIGHTY CHRIST

Posted by: anonymous at 04/29/07 10:00 PM | Reply
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I second that motion: Nic O. for frontman of the year.

Posted by: Fred J Dukes at 04/30/07 12:26 PM | Reply
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Flash in the pan, substance-free "dance" acts own all.

Posted by: Bort at 04/30/07 3:39 PM | Reply
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Mohave? Small typo I believe, or translating for the non-Spanish speakers.

Posted by: Oz at 05/01/07 2:27 AM | Reply
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Can´t wait to see them live. Their drumer looks like Brett Favre.

Posted by: Evan at 05/01/07 5:31 AM | Reply
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John Pugh has quit !!!. You can hear his last interview and the full live set from the !!! show at Studio B in Brooklyn over at http://www.viva-radio.com/vivalive

Posted by: Viva Radio at 08/08/07 4:48 PM | Reply
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