We were waiting since July to see the Butthole Surfers return to New York. They've been touring around, playing in other less deserving cities, and finally they came to Brooklyn last night to make up for the awful show in July at Webster Hall.It was worth the wait. They were really ON last night, the energy was at 100% and the band played wonderfully. As Slim said, "What a great world we live in where you can eat pyrogy and watch the Butthole Surfers at the same time." They ROCKED.
Last time we went to Greenpoint we were lost for two hours, finally having to take a cab to our final destination. This anxiety led to us arriving at The Warsaw around 7:30. We were the second people to show up. The first was a lone guy who told us they weren't open. But immediately after we showed up, the giant, bald bouncers showed mercy on us and let us in so that we could start drinking and warming up. This lasted only about 40 minutes, when we were told to drink up and go back outside to get on line. We were certain our seats at the bar would be gone by the time we got through the line that was now snaking around the block, but it was for naught, our seats were still there, and a good thing too because the 8:00 show really meant 10:30. Which really meant after 11:00.
Many drinks, and a plate of pyrogy later, the first "band" went on. It was an awful display of some guy who looked like Crispin Glover reading from his notebook while music blared from the wall of amps behind him. It was unmercifully long. We didn't know there were 2 opening acts so when the 2nd act came on, and the screens lit up we thought it was the main event and so rushed into the main hall. But it was Black Dice playing their psychedelic electronica. I can't tell you if it was any good, because we lost our seats at the bar and had to sit in the noisy middle room.
As luck would have it, sitting in the middle room turned out to be one of the highlights, because it was right next to the back door, where Gibby was coming and going. He shook my hand and looked delighted that someone recognized him. Or, the jetlag from just returning from their Europe made him delirious. Either way, it was fun to touch his warm, soft hand, but I couldn't get my camera out in time to honor the event.
Being a girl who loves hard rock has one main advantage - there is never a long line for the bathrooms. This led to a second advantage last night while I was waiting for Slim to emerge from his long line. I noticed that the "VIP" section in the balcony had no actual guard. Upstairs we found SEATS, a blessing in a general admission nightclub type of place. I was dreading standing up for several hours, and this was the answer to my dream.
Not only were there seats, there were EMPTY seats, but not two together. We asked three people if they would move down one seat so we could sit together. Two of the three were perfectly amiable with the suggestion. The third, a sullen Asian woman with her coat in her lap the entire night, absolutely refused to move. It was odd and under normal circumstances that would have led to an all night elbow fest, but I was in too good a mood and that bitch wasn't going to ruin it for me. She could wait until after the show to feel my wrath.
After about 10 minutes the guy sitting next to me decided to follow his girlfriend, with whom he was having a fight, downstairs, opening up a seat next to me. Disaster averted, we had unobstructed views in the front row of the tiny balcony. The only thing missing was the vibe, as up there it was kind of calm. Down in front it looked much more vibey. Didn't matter, the sound was great, the band played really well and the videos were as gruesome as ever.
Next stop... New Year's Eve at the Fillmore in San Francisco? I'm checking flights now.
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