MOG

For $5 American greenbacks I was able to catch a high-energy show by Ted Leo & the Pharmacists this fair evening. I didn't have too many expectations going into the show, but I figured at the very least it would keep my mind off the imminent arrival of In Rainbows. What I got, was well worth my price and then some TL & TP ripped through a high-energy set of songs from both the present and the past. Although the supporting crew wasn't very tight this evening, they managed to pull off the show and get away with it - in part because Mr. Ted Leo writes ridiculously awesome songs, and in part because Mr. Ted Leo plays with a fervent energy which captivates the audience and distracts the critical mind from something as mundane as timing issues. Somewhere in between the power chord onslaught, Mr. Leo also found time to engage in comedic banter with the audience. During the encore, he proceeded to perform a pretty good solo rendition of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark", which was jokingly (or maybe drunkenly) requested by an audience member earlier in the show. All in all, the show was good and the real crime is that Bad Religion was booked at another venue in town on the same night. It's likely that the same punk-rock audience had a hard time choosing between the So. Cal. stalwarts of punk, and an insanely cheap show by Ted Leo and his pharmacists.