Liars at High Noon Saloon
The artier side of Liars’ art-punk equation has long dominated coverage of the group, and for good reason; the trio has become one of the most daring noise bands to emerge from New York this century. But the pretense of Liars’ music was overshadowed by the sheer ferocity the band mustered during its unruly set High Noon on Wednesday. The performance drew heavily from the L.A. punk-influenced Sisterworld, with carpet-bombing tracks like “Scissor” and “Scarecrows On A Killer Slant” creating multiple ruckuses in front of the stage. Even older cuts leveled the crowd: The biggest moshpit started up during Liars’ “Plaster Casts Of Everything,” and the band whipped up a maelstrom for encore-closing “Broken Witch,” a cut from its derided 2004 album, They Were Wrong, So We Drowned.
Gigantically tall frontman Angus Andrew thanked the crowd profusely during the performance, in between deep-throating his mic for maximum screaming and stuffing it down his shirt to enable better dancing. He’s like a cross between James Chance and a recently escaped mental patient, attacking the crowd with flailing arm movements, clownish facial expressions, and guttural moans. But the dude can sing too; his vocal performance on “The Other Side Of Mt. Heart Attack” suggested he’d have a solid second career as a balladeer.
But the tender moment was quickly obliterated by “Plaster Casts,” and Liars’ set proved to be like the thunderstorm/tornado watch that hit Madison last night; threatening, loud, with a decent chance of getting wet.
