Show Review: Puscifer with Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival at The Fox Oakland, 11/5/2009

Puscifer

Hey! Wait! That title looks awfully familiar. You mean to tell me that those troublemakers in Puscifer, the art/music/performance collective spearheaded by Maynard James Keenan of Tool/A Perfect Circle, were allowed into the Fox Theater for yet another night of mayhem, debauchery and… Wait, what’s that? Country music? No, Puscifer doesn’t play country music, they play industrial-experimental-electronic… What do you mean, the stage is built like the front of a Wild West house, complete with porch armchairs and old-style pop filter microphones?

Yes, Puscifer was back. Yes, they brought Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival back with them. But, no, it was not like the first night — as evidenced by the aforementioned set design, Puscifer had come back to play some old-fashioned country westerns. Well, old-fashioned is actually an incorrect term — after all, these were their own songs, although there’s probably some desolate corner of the world where these bastardized country ballads could be considered old-fashioned westerns.

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Show Review: Puscifer with Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival at The Fox Oakland, 11/4/2009

Puscifer02

Forget any expectations you have for the evening at hand. Leave them at the door, which, in the case of tonight’s show, is beset with a flock of confused, wary patrons, eyeing a man in an off-tan suit and taped-together sunglasses, who is armed with a megaphone. The man is Brother Ed of Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival, and he is begging, PLEADING for the patrons to not enter the Fox Theater tonight, to not forsake their own souls as the cost of attending this show which, according to him, can only be the work of the Devil himself.

Brother Ed should be scared. His rants, while facetious at their core, are somewhat justified. He and his band will be opening, tonight, for Puscifer.

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Show Review: Regina Spektor at The Fox Oakland, 10/30/2009

Sadly, the best picture I could get from the back of the room
Sadly, the best picture I could get from the back of the room

For some reason I always forget how good Regina Spektor is, but when the lights went down in The Fox Theater and the crowd went insane I felt a surge of pure joy and anticipation just like a die-hard fan.  Then when Regina, beaming at the crowd’s welcome, started into “The Calculation” I started to feel tears well up.  I may be over emotional this week, but still, it was one of those perfect moments that you just knew everything was going to be wonderful, at least for the next hour and a half. Continue reading “Show Review: Regina Spektor at The Fox Oakland, 10/30/2009”