Rollins Band
Sunday 7/11/99, The Bottleneck Lawrence, KS
review written - 7/12/99

Lesson #1:  if you're going to go see a band with as big a following as Rollins Band at a place as tiny as The Bottleneck in Lawrence, KS ... buy your ticket beforehand.

Lesson #2:  when you find out the show is sold out and you are left incredibly depressed, standing outside trying to watch/listen to the show through the window, resist the temptation to bash your head into the window and/or kill someone.

Lesson #3:  don't give up.  If you look pathetic enough and hang out near the door, you will eventually find a way in.

And that I did.  Lucky for me and a few other unfortunate souls, a guy (who I often see at shows in the area, he must be a promotor or something) picked us out and helped us get in.  Whoever you are, thank you!

Rollins Band was already on stage when I got in.  I think they were only 1 or 2 songs into the set though.  For the next hour and 1/2 they thoroughly impressed me.  This band is a (welcome) return to the energy (not necessarily sound) of the late '80s Rollins Band.  The music is sweaty, hard and heavy.  What Rollins said you'd get is exactly what you get:  Stooges/Thin Lizzy/Sabbath-style relentless rock and roll with no apologies.  The new band is flawless and tight.  Rollins and the band seem to be very pleased with their music and it shows.  I imagine that with several more years of constant touring and writing under their belts this band may very well reach the same level as the "Turned On"-era Rollins Band (which is my personal favorite RB era) ...

The set was mostly new songs.  This gave me a flashback to my first Rollins Band show at Lollapalooza in KC, MO in '91.  At that show they were playing all new songs, the ones that would eventually come out in '92 on "The End of Silence".  Same thing here, these songs will eventually come out on "Go Again Get Some" in January of '00.  Once again, it's going to be a long, painful wait.  It's only been a few hours since the show, but already most all the words/riffs have left my head.  Great to hear new songs, but when will I hear them again?  I *need* to hear them again to figure out just how much I like them.  They were all great live, but I hope it translates at least equally to disc ...

Rollins gave a spoken intro for most every song, especially the new ones.  Here's the list of songs that Rollins offered the titles for, and all the ones I can remember them playing, in no particular order (except the encore):

What Have I Got
Hotter and Hotter
Love is Heavy
Hard
Go Again Get Some
Are You Ready to Rock (Thin Lizzy)
Summer Nights
Yellow Blues
Monster
Change It Up
Do It

encore:

I Go Day-Glo
Side by Side

Three "classics" (3 of my all-time favorites!):  What Have I Got was about the same as it appears on "Turned On", "Do It" was just ... intense.  "Hard" was sped-up with more of a metal feel to it.  Very nice.  Of the new songs, I can only remember a few specifics:  "Hotter and Hotter", "Go Again Get Some" and "I Go Day-Glo" are fast, hard songs.  "Yellow Blues" was a slow, fat blues jam ... it was so good to hear this one.  I really felt like I was watching late 80's Rollins Band during this song as everyone would come crashing down on the '1' (there were many other moments throughout the show that gave me that same feeling).  A great variety of styles and tempos for these songs ... some are really slow, some are super fast, some are straight up rock and roll and some are a bit funky or a bit blues-y ...

Some of the intros, paraphrased:  "Yellow Blues" - this song is about a soldier in Vietnam in 1969 who's had his arm blown off, is too tired to run and is watching as the insects eat at him.  "Are You Ready to Rock" - this is a song we wish *we* would have wrote, but Thin Lizzy did.  <at this point about 1/2 of the crowd starts hollerin')  Those of you who aren't hollerin' need to get your tight asses to a record store and get some of this shit (referring to Thin Lizzy).  "I Go Day-Glo" - this song is pretty vigorous, if you have a lower back problem you might want to sit this one out.  "Change it Up" this song is about changing your place in life.  Someone always walks up to me on the street and says "why are you here?  this town sucks" ... the real question is "why are *you* here?" Rollins asked the crowd how many of you hate your job to which most everyone yelled something.  Then Rollins said that was like saying "yeah!" after having a heart attack.  Why be happy for your own misery?  Change it up.  "Love is Heavy" - a love song, one week you're listening to your "Best of the Carpenters" cd and the next you're listening to Slayer ...

That's all I can remember for now ...

One thing about the band I really enjoyed ... they were into it, totally.  Jim (guitar) is great, different from Haskett of course, but great.  Lots of killer, non-cheesy, rock-god style solos and heavy rhythm work.  He has long black hair, black goatee, black leather hat and all black clothes ... sort of a shades-less Al Jourgensen look.  Marcus (bass) lays down one heavy ass groove.  He didn't remind me of either Weiss or Gibbs, which is good, just a solid player.  Jason (drums) was also solid, not as flashy (fills-wise) as Sim Cain, but he definitely gets the job done for this sort of music.  I liked how Jim would often sing the lyrics to himself as he played and how all 3 would laugh or clap after Rollins stage raps.  There's no doubt about it ... Mother Superior was a great choice for a new band ...

It was *SO* good to see Rollins Band in a small club again!  This is where they belong, despite selling out the venues.  Go see them now before they get too big again.  This music deserves the small club atmosphere as opposed to the big arena/theater.  The crowd was really into it.  Rollins asked before the encores "how is it so far?" to which the crowd went nuts.  "Good, we like it but we're never really sure if anyone else does.  Glad to see it spreading".  We all walked out of the Bottleneck drenched in sweat ...

Price:

 $12.50

Merchandise:

 4 RB shirts $20 each, Squatweiler stuff (cds, stickers, etc)

Thanks:

 the guy that got us in, Rollins Band, the very receptive crowd!

Recommendation:
 see every show you can!

My Rollins page - The Henry Rollins News Page

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