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Click here for all of QRO’s coverage of Electric Six in QRO’s ‘Spotlight On : Electric Six’ feature
Electric Six walked on stage at The EARL in Atlanta, GA on Thursday, October 5th dressed in suits and dress shirts, except the drummer, who wore a polka-dot shirt. The first thing noticed was that there were five members on stage, and the band name is Electric Six. The keyboardist was not present. Singer Dick Valentine really got the audience going by throwing his mic stand around and making enthusiastic gestures to engage the fans.
The show opened with “Turquoise from their new album of the same name (QRO review), which lead singer Valentine said, “Because the record company said we have to play the song…” It was presented an overload of unrelated subjects, where turquoise is some protective amulet. Fans of E6 were here to enjoy those up-tempo songs and wacky lyrics, and the live performance was raw and burning.
Valentine mentioned they have 15 albums released, and was enthusiastic to constantly remind the fans that it was Thursday night. Valentine was great with his conversational quips. With all the band introductions I’ve heard, this is the only time I’ve ever had a singer describe themselves as a musical cockroach.
The crowd woke up during the song “Down at McDonnelzzz”, while bassist Rick Schaple danced around joyously center stage. After “Electric Demons (In Love)”, off the Fire album, Valentine mentioned that the other record label told him to play this. The linear chords and recurring lyrics made the song easy to follow, so even those who were familiar with the song were quickly engaged by Valentine’s ardent delivery, and kept off balance by the comical, wacky lyrics.
The next piece was “Naked Pictures (Of Your Mother)”, so conventional songs were not on the menu for tonight’s setlist. Dr. J, the drummer, had a solo leading into “Pulling the Plug on the Party” and the band’s fans rejoiced. This song was a metal groove.
After some band introductions, the band pulled out the memorable “Gay Bar”, and Valentine swung jacket around while singing the chorus. Clown Loudman, the rhythm guitarist from Atlanta, got on his knees during the chorus. During “Gay Bar Part Two”, Valentine did some nice backstroke style dancing. The band was now fully warmed up and so was the audience, who were full-on dancing. The song transitioned into “She’s White” without pause, and there was a guitar salute at the end.
Lead guitarist Herb Flavoring danced in circles on “Future Is in the Future”. Bassist Rick Schaple was center stage with groovy dancing jumping and guitar poses. The singer’s arms waved, and it was at that moment I realized they were playing the song “Improper Dancing”. Valentine pogo danced, and so did the crowd, on “(Who The Hell Just) Called My Phone”, then lead guitarist Flavoring came into the audience to play some in-your-face riffs for some fans.
After that, the band delivered another big hit, “Danger! High Voltage”. The dance party even got the barkeeps dancing along. The whole audience is jamming, and Valentine starts call-response with audience. Then they played “Synthesizer” as a tribute to Tait Nucleas – who was not with the band tonight, thus five members, not six. Valentine has great charisma, but at moments, he seemed humble and genuinely giddy about the audience feedback.
After a brief pause after the regular set, the fans are offered an encore. A nice cover of “Eye in the Sky” with a hard-rock guitar was a nice touch. “Panic! Panic!” solicited immediate cheers from audience. For the final cherry on top, they closed with “Dance Commander”.
After the show, the stage was littered with PBR cans, the audience was smiling after the end of party Electric Six threw at The EARL.
