Last Tuesday night, October 14th, Webster Hall saw a great performance from the Los Angeles orginated all-girl rockband known as Warpaint – only problem was the crowd wasn’t completely digging it.
Liam Finn and the Dream Team as the opening act, headed by an extremely charasmatic and engaging frontman, Liam Finn himself. Much of the crowd gathered for his opening act and cheered him on appropriately, not very common for an indie-rock show on a Tuesday night. It was nice to see the opener have so much fun on stage, and deliver an entertaining set at the same time.
Warpaint graced the stage at around 10:30; it was decorated with a huge blow-up of their most recent album cover, Warpaint.
Playing through classic tracks such as “Bees” and “Composure” (The Fool 2010), and flavoring their set with new records such as “Biggie” (Warpaint 2014), the performace was superb. There is a certain attractive ambience to the alternative vocals of Theresa Wayman and Emily Kokal, with the occasional melody sung by the bassist, Jenny Lee Lindberg. Throughout the performance, Jenny and the Australian drummer, Stella Mozgawa, could be seen exchanging playful looks and jamming with enthusiasm to their own tracks.
Unfortunately, the audience did not reciprocate. Only a small portion of the crowd could be seen dancing, with others standing stiff and puzzled. I dont know where this fun-police presence came from, but it made it very awkward for true fans who really wanted to get down and dance.
I bet Warpaint noticed this, because at one point Wayman announced a contest in which the most energetic dancer would win the attractive maroon hat she was wearing. Again, the audience didn’t play along – I looked around and still barely anyone was moving their feet. It was so easy to stand out if you just jumped around a little bit; needless to say, the contest ended with me winning the hat for myself.
Afterwords, Warpaint played a DJ set in a separate room at the venue which was well-attended.
Overall, if you are a fan of their music, Warpaint is sure to put on a great show. It is funky, ambient, and intricate, and sure to impress. But please – when you go to shows that are actually good, show the artist that you are into the music! It’s a shame how inhibited this crowd was – Warpaint’s performance deserved a better reaction.