Last night Natalie, my Friend Christina and myself went to see Gogol Bordello at Club Nokia which is a pretty good intimate venue. This was Christina's first time seeing the band and Natalie and myself's 3rd time. I had very high expectations for the show, knowing what a great live band they are but I wasn't sure how the L.A. crowd would be. We meet at the Willow Park and Ride Garage and jumped on the Metro Blue line to L.A. The ride was good, the train was not very full and we were in front of the Los Angeles convention center before we knew it. We left the train and this guy overheard us talking about Long Beach. He made a comment to the girls and they just laughed it off. He came up to me however and asked me how to get to the convention center. As it would turn out he is a student at Cal State Long BEach and has recently started his graduate studies in Electrical Engineering. He is from a city in India, though I could not understand the name of the town. As we were about to part ways he asked for a photo, and I said sure, although natalie and Christina gave me a hard time about it.
We had two sub-missions before we could go into the venue @ 7:30. Firstly we had to find a restroom for the ladies: Secondly, we had to eat, as I was getting dizzy from Hunger. After hitting up Starbucks for a bathroom we ended up at Trader Vic's. The place was empty and the service slow. The food was okay as far as quality, but the one bonus I will give them is the portion size was rather large. After dinner we walked around the corner and initially couldn't find "Club Nokia" but we were directed there by a friendly fan. We entered in fairly quickly, and stood in line for the merchandise table but I realized I didn't want to spend anymore money than I already had. We went in and it was about 8:10 when we established our spot on the rail in front of the sound booth.
At about 9pm a band from Brazil came onto the stage. They were five pieces from left to right a drummer, triangle and bongo player, a flute/saxophonist, the guitarist, and lastly the bass player. They were good musicians and they were very tight, all in sync and grooving off one another, yet I found the music repetitive and some what uninspired. After a song where the singers repeatedly told the audience that if they didn't like Bob Marley then they should "stay away from me", I found myself looking at Natalie and laughing. She was laughing with me. I'm not trying to disparage the band, they were very talented, but they need to diversify their sound. After they finished their set, there was another 30 minute break and then the house lights dimmed. Music started playing through the speakers and the audience was electric for the band. Then the Guitarist, Drummer and Precussionist came on stage and started playing. The crowd went crazy.
If you have never seen a Gogol Bordello crowd it might surprise you. There are old people, young people and all those in between, punkers, drunkers and rock and rollers, hipsters, dipsters and gnomes (seriously I saw a gnome), dreads, heads and autistic piano players, all under the same roof.
Anyways, once the band started playing people really wanted to get close to the stage, but Club Nokia has a divide that keeps people without bracelets out of the pit area, so people were jumping over at every point. Christina starts getting shoved from behind by this, and I'm not being judge-mental, fat blond girl. So they exchange words and Christina had enough. She grabbed the rail and pushed back as hard as she could, in consequence she pushed 10 people back against the sound wall and the fat chick was furious so she charges Christina. Natalie looks at me and goes "Troy! Help!", so I put myself between Christina and the fat chick, who then decided to try and hit me. Not a bright idea, but oh well! Then the smallest security guard runs up to me. "Stop it right now you!" he says pointing his finger at me. I look him square in the eyes and say "This bitch is punching my friend in the back and I will have none of it." I looked him square in the eye and he looked at her and told her that he would kick her out, then Christina chimes in "And she's trying to hope over the rail", at which point the fat girl looks at her and says "Bitch!". He looked back at her and she shut up, then I tried to enjoy the show. Christina was put out, which I was bummed about because she was really excited to see the show. It took her about 15 minutes to cool off, then we got into the music.
Drama over, time to focus on the band. The first set was sloppy and fast. The tempos were flying off the charts, which I can understand they felt they were not tight so they tried to make it up with energy, I wasn't impressed. Towards the end of the set they played Start Wearing Purple and they locked in. It was, according to Natalie the "Best" she'd ever seen it. Then they took a set break shortly after that. When they came back from the break they were a different band. They opened the second set with
"When Universes Collide" and it was amazing, lighters came out, which I've never seen before at a Gogol Bordello show. They ended the first encore and came back out for two more songs. Then Eugene says "I think I'm going to continue this after party" and he plays "Alcohol" solo which I've seen him do before, but this version was absolutely, hands down, the most impressive I've seen. He ended the night on that high note when Serge (Violinist) and the Accordion player joined him on stage.
Lastly, the exit. We were pressed for time to catch out train to get back to Long Beach and the Club Nokia staff didn't do anything to help the situation. They actually blocked the exits and made everyone go out a small side door down several flights of stairs. Lawsuit waiting to happen. We caught our train and made it back home around 2 am. Brutal, but worth it.
All in all, the L,A, crowd sucks so much that I would avoid going to a show in L.A. if I could help it. I don't think I would go back to Club Nokia, but it would always depend on the act playing. I've included all the songs they played last night, in no particular order.
Hope you enjoy!
-Troy
Song Played: Not In Order
Break The Spell (Trans-Continental Hustle)
Pala Tute (Trans-Continental Hustle)
My Campanjera (Trans-Continental Hustle)
Sun Is On My Side (Trans-Continental Hustle)
Immigrandia (We Coming Rougher) (Trans-Continental Hustle)
When Universes Collide (1st Encore, 1st Song) Amazing! (Trans-Continental Hustle)
Raise The Knowledge (Trans-Continental Hustle)
Last One Goes The Hope (Trans-Continental Hustle)
Trans-Continental Hustle (Trans-Continental Hustle)
Alcohol (Last Song with Eugene/Violin/Accordion) (Multiple Albums)
Baro Foro Multi Kontra Culti Vs. Irony)
Immigrant Punk (Underdog World Strike)
Mala Vida (East Infection)
Not A Crime (Underdog World Strike)
Punk Rock Paranda (Multi Kontra Culti Vs. Irony)
Sacred Darling (Voi-La Intruder)
Start Wearing Purple (Multiple Albums)
Stivali E Colbacco (Super Taranta!)
Wonderlust King (Super Taranta!)
Tribal Connection (Super Taranta!)
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