The Cramps @ House of Blues, San Diego – 10/24/06
Review by Kent Manthie
Tuesday, October 24 at San Diego’s newest and now best place to see concerts, House of Blues, which is really a swell place, a cavernous pit with a high shaft of a ceiling and last night it was bathed in a crimson light between the lights and the fire engine colored curtain as a backdrop to the return of the living dead, The Cramps.
Every Halloween the Cramps play a show in San Francisco, it’s a tradition. But I think they make a mini-tour out of it because they’ve been here in San Diego about this same time (a week before Halloween) the past few years that I can recall and then they’re off to the best city on earth, San Francisco.
Anyway, last night’s show was awesome. It started off tight, rockin’ and slick and it just got better & better. Lux Interior was doing his best undead impersonation, gyrating all over the place, getting stinking drunk (or at least pretending to); uncorking bottle after bottle of California red wine and you could tell by the peak of the show that he had a good buzz going. But he was on fire, musically, not missing a beat.
Poison Ivy was sexy as ever in a black PVC bustier-type outfit and matching gloves and masque. Whew. A special guest on bass – Sean Yseult, who’s played with White Zombie, among other bands and Harry Drumdini, who beat the hell out of the skins, rounded out the combo, on the drums.
Opening act was the Groovin’ Ghoulies, who have been around themselves for some time, in the underground cellar, existing and jamming for a couple decades now.
I thought this was heaven, listening to the Cramps go at it – song after song of raucous, raw psychobilly that only they can pull off this well. Ms. Ivy was in great shape, not only physically, but musically as well – she was jamming on this Les Paul hollow body while demurely standing off to the side, letting Lux get all the attention and show off with his wild antics and witty banter between songs.
A few samples of the set list include: “TV Set”, “Goo Goo Muck”, “Human Fly”, “She Said (ooh-ee ahh-ahh)” and a bitchin’ cover of the Count Five’s “Psychotic Reaction”. Along with about 70 minutes of non-stop jammin’, ramblin’ punkified rockabilly thoroughly amusing and satisfying, I could’ve hung around listening to them play for another hour at least; time does fly when you’re lost in the haze of a good set of music.
Well, at least now I can say that – no matter what else I do in the next week – my Halloween of 2006 is complete, with this annual get together of the Cramps; I mean, no one was “dressed up”, i.e., it wasn’t a masquerade ball, but there were some quite interesting-looking people there, at least the females, most of the guys there were all alike, mostly interchangeable, but the chicks had some interesting ensembles. I saw high-school age-looking girls up in the balcony area, hanging out, swaying to the rhythms; big, sweaty dudes rambunctiously, drunkenly getting nuts; really into the whole thing; there was a guy who had three cups of draught beer in his hand and when he caught my eye he handed me one of them and then walked over somewhere else. Hmm – okay, whatever, that’s cool. It was a pretty packed concert, altogether; I’m not sure if it was sold out, but it must’ve been close if it wasn’t – sold out, that is. See you next year… – KM.