King Khan And The Shrines at the Annex
It’s safe to say that most of today’s garage-rockers don’t really require dramatic entrances. But when Berlin’s The Shrines rolled out a red carpet of suspenseful swing music for their fearless leader King Khan to strut upon at The Annex on Tuesday, all was right in the world. Decked out in a fedora with a peacock feather jammed into it, what looked like a velvet suit coat, and a bone necklace, Khan led his truly “sensational” Shrines through a blitzkrieg of twist ’n’ shout soul-rock that might have drawn the ghost of Otis Redding from the depths of Lake Monona to join the party.
Make no mistake; this show belongs as much to The Shrines as it does to their screeching frontman. When keyboardist Fredovitch wasn’t swiping away at an organ, he was shaking a tambourine and launching off of speakers. Guitarist Till Timm would often rip the noise right out of his instrument via windmill chops or simply jumping on the sub-woofers, lifting his guitar behind his head and jamming the pick-ups into the P.A. speakers. The nine-piece backing band (well, 10-piece if you count the girl onstage whose sole responsibility was to dance) was loaded with multi-taskers, too; many times the horn-section would jump over to auxiliary percussion, Timm and bassist Riddiman would jump on backup croons, or Khan himself would strap on a guitar for rockers like “Outta Harms Way” and Stooges nod “No Regrets.”
“Okay, I’ve gotten in trouble for makin’ people rip their money on this one, so we won’t do that,” Khan declared before asking, “We got any brothers in the audience tonight?” and cruising into powerful message of “Welfare Bread.” The crowd truly became a group of zombies under Khan’s wicked dancing spell, as he ran through a jet-propelled set of tunes that pulled primarily from 2008’s compilation The Supreme Genius Of King Khan And The Shrines and 2007’s What Is?!. There were a couple of pleasant surprises, including Khan returning to the stage for an encore set in his signature golden cape, blasting out a dirty take on Suicide’s “Ghost Rider.” An extended psychedelic detailing Khan being reborn by stepping into a woman’s vagina climaxed with all the house lights going out and a mixture of cheers and laughter from the crowd. The band also tried out the soulful crunch of a new tune called “Bite My Tongue,” which, according to Khan, is from an upcoming album that is “taking a long time to finish.”
While the Shrines performance is still ringing in my skull (both figuratively and literally), the opening set from Gentleman Jesse And His Men left a distant hum of its own. The Atlanta, Georgia ’70s rockers put on their best Cheap Trick and Nick Lowe faces to bounce through harmony-soaked power-pop gems like “All I Need Tonight (Is You)” and “Black Hole” from their self-titled 2008 album, as well a handful of tunes from their assorted seven-inches.
