Bad Brains light up Afro-Punk Festival ...
Eric Shapiro - posted in NY Press on 6-28-2010
Of the three major offshoots of punk that emerged in the late 1970s and continued throughout the 1980s, hardcore stayed the most true to the genre’s original spirit. New wave took it in a more commercial direction by toning down the abrasiveness and emphasizing the hooks. Post-punk took it in a more self-consciously creative direction, adopting the sensibility of art rock without the excess. Hardcore simply took the passion, urgency, and youthful fervor of punk rock and cranked them up to 11.
For this reason, it’s understandably a bit odd to see a hardcore band reunited decades after its heyday, with its members well into middle age. As Bad Brains took the stage as Saturday’s headliners of the Afro Punk Festival in Brooklyn’s Commodore Barry Park, even the intensity of the crowd was not enough to erase the contradiction of watching old men playing a form of music meant to embody youthful rebellion and energy. How could their performance be anything more than an approximation, a mere re-enactment of their early days? The days when, as much as I hate to admit it, they were more than just a cult band playing a show to indulge nostalgic fans eager to recapture the experience of their youth. A lesser hardcore band would surely have looked ridiculous.
The Bad Brains I saw were, as would be expected, not the same Bad Brains that played in the 1980s. Its members lacked the explosive energy that they had in their prime, standing mostly still, almost as if in a trance, while audience members engaged in obligatory moshing and crowd surfing. The discrepancy between the energy level of the band and that of the audience was palpable.
Front man H.R. (Human Rights) did his best to howl, yelp, screech and croon in the distinctively unhinged manner that he is known for, but his 54-year-old pipes could not muster the necessary force to match the band’s playing. This was particularly noticeable during the encore performance of “I Against I.” Nevertheless, he remains as quirkily captivating as ever, albeit in a more low key way. He wore a green towel on his head and mumbled Rastafarian lingo in between songs, resembling a cross between an enlightened prophet and a raving homeless dude.
Every so often he would fall back from the mic during an instrumental section, close his eyes, and rock along with the music, his arms weaving through the air like those of a conductor. Guitarist Dr. Know tore it up like a pro, but did not bring much energy to the proceedings. Ditto for bassist Darryl Jennifer. Accordingly, the band seemed most at home playing their lighter, overtly reggae numbers, where they could lock into a steady groove without having to move around much.
None of this is to say that Bad Brains put on a bad show. Their musicianship is as outstanding as ever; you can tell you’re listening to a band of first-rate musicians that have been playing together, albeit on and off, for three decades. No other band can transition from lightning-fast hardcore, to heavy metal, to reggae like Bad Brains. One could argue that they are the greatest musicians of their genre, and second only to Black Flag in terms of influence. This is as apparent today as it ever was. The songs themselves also hold up exceptionally well, having lost none of their jarring impact and mosh-inducing energy.
Like all great bands, Bad Brains possess a unique, implacable quality that transcends its genre. Limitations owing to age aside, their music will continue to move audiences as long as they are moved to play it.
Of the three major offshoots of punk that emerged in the late 1970s and continued throughout the 1980s, hardcore stayed the most true to the genre’s original spirit. New wave took it in a more commercial direction by toning down the abrasiveness and emphasizing the hooks. Post-punk took it in a more self-consciously creative direction, adopting the sensibility of art rock without the excess. Hardcore simply took the passion, urgency, and youthful fervor of punk rock and cranked them up to 11.
For this reason, it’s understandably a bit odd to see a hardcore band reunited decades after its heyday, with its members well into middle age. As Bad Brains took the stage as Saturday’s headliners of the Afro Punk Festival in Brooklyn’s Commodore Barry Park, even the intensity of the crowd was not enough to erase the contradiction of watching old men playing a form of music meant to embody youthful rebellion and energy. How could their performance be anything more than an approximation, a mere re-enactment of their early days? The days when, as much as I hate to admit it, they were more than just a cult band playing a show to indulge nostalgic fans eager to recapture the experience of their youth. A lesser hardcore band would surely have looked ridiculous.
The Bad Brains I saw were, as would be expected, not the same Bad Brains that played in the 1980s. Its members lacked the explosive energy that they had in their prime, standing mostly still, almost as if in a trance, while audience members engaged in obligatory moshing and crowd surfing. The discrepancy between the energy level of the band and that of the audience was palpable.
Front man H.R. (Human Rights) did his best to howl, yelp, screech and croon in the distinctively unhinged manner that he is known for, but his 54-year-old pipes could not muster the necessary force to match the band’s playing. This was particularly noticeable during the encore performance of “I Against I.” Nevertheless, he remains as quirkily captivating as ever, albeit in a more low key way. He wore a green towel on his head and mumbled Rastafarian lingo in between songs, resembling a cross between an enlightened prophet and a raving homeless dude.
Every so often he would fall back from the mic during an instrumental section, close his eyes, and rock along with the music, his arms weaving through the air like those of a conductor. Guitarist Dr. Know tore it up like a pro, but did not bring much energy to the proceedings. Ditto for bassist Darryl Jennifer. Accordingly, the band seemed most at home playing their lighter, overtly reggae numbers, where they could lock into a steady groove without having to move around much.
None of this is to say that Bad Brains put on a bad show. Their musicianship is as outstanding as ever; you can tell you’re listening to a band of first-rate musicians that have been playing together, albeit on and off, for three decades. No other band can transition from lightning-fast hardcore, to heavy metal, to reggae like Bad Brains. One could argue that they are the greatest musicians of their genre, and second only to Black Flag in terms of influence. This is as apparent today as it ever was. The songs themselves also hold up exceptionally well, having lost none of their jarring impact and mosh-inducing energy.
Like all great bands, Bad Brains possess a unique, implacable quality that transcends its genre. Limitations owing to age aside, their music will continue to move audiences as long as they are moved to play it.