I’ve been going to the Regent since October 2015, when I covered Deerhunter and Atlas Sound for Grimy Goods. Not that I’ve attended all that many shows there since; I had side gigs that placed me at the Regent just as many times as I actually enjoyed a concert.
It’s a great venue. I used to hide upstairs and become irrationally mad at the living organism that is the crowd below. Though the view was certainly worth it. On the night of November 6th, I opted for the floor and remembered why I should swallow my pet peeves and go back to the upper level. My toes. Does anyone else have this issue? The floor is slanted, which is excellent in theory—people in the back get a slight lift over the folks in the front so all can see the stage. In practice, my feet are shoved into the toe of my shoe and my little piggies get crushed.
That didn’t dull my excitement for YACHT, who came onstage first of the co-headliners. Rob Kieswetter came out first, then Jona Bechtolt who reminded us to applaud for Rob, then Claire L. Evans who we cheered for without reminder. They mostly played songs from their new release, New Release, a 10-track garage pop album. They also pulled from ITTFWBC and played a couple covers. I was surprised by “Le Goudron” (they must love to perform that one). Claire at another point asked the crowd if there were any Sparks fans and there were many cheers, including from me, but I just knew their cover “Popularity” was coming. Also I’ll cheer at almost anything.
The crowd was pitiful in size and energy, but I can only blame the night before. Claire addressed the (red) elephant in the room by admitting that there was nothing to really say. But it was good to spend time with community. Even if the community wasn’t bringing life to this concert…Anyway, my issue with the crowd was eventually solved. Because I was dancing—and specifically moving my feet—across the tilted floor, gravity pulled me closer to the stage, past anyone who was vibing in complete stillness. Perhaps they were saving their toes. Perhaps they were still processing the election. I stopped caring about their lack of enthusiasm once they were behind me.
This was YACHT’s first show in two years and the set was unforgiving on the trio. Their computer required a restart several times and it seemed like potentially other (related?) issues were occurring. So Claire turned to us and vamped. Yes, we devolved into Q&A. The first question was deemed classified—I couldn’t tell if the asker knew the band or had some insider knowledge, but I did file it away. I considered asking a question myself but it feels too similar to heckling, especially if you don’t have a surefire banger in the queue. And I didn’t want to ask a real question and be humiliated by people I respected in front of people who respect them.
After YACHT delivered “Psychic City” (millennial devotion remains real) and cleared the stage, Claire entered the crowd to sell merch alongside the venue’s new anniversary merch sporting spiky metal typeface. I spent too much money and chickened out of asking that real question one-on-one. Onstage, a short film played where employees from the Regent (and possibly other folks) reminisced about notable shows over the years, of which I think I only attended one. And not to be cynical but I found it vapid. When any superlatives came out, the “best” shows were always the ones that they personally were most excited about or that sold out. Which tells me nothing about the endeavor of running a venue. Ten years is a long time to survive in the music business, and maybe that’s too real for mid-show entertainment. For the purposes of this film, the staff and friends were simply fans. Fans of bands that I am generally not.
I didn’t plan on staying for the entire bill, and I guess I didn’t anyway but I stayed a lot longer than anticipated. !!! is truly one of the best live bands. (Maybe they’ll make the Regent’s 20-year anniversary recap.) Their music is frozen in time in the 2000s and therefore not what I reach for regularly these days, but feeling it live is always exhilarating. The band gave us dance pop before the genre was invaded by EDM and dance punk after punk sold out. They’ve always been an anomaly.
At the Regent they made sure to keep the energy high. The crowd grew in volume so it didn’t feel quite as lifeless as when YACHT went on, but I didn’t get the feeling we were about to see a crush; on the contrary, I parked myself against the wall higher up on the slant where I could flail my limbs as well as all my new merch without bothering anyone.
My initial thought about the audience was that they didn’t seem like feral die-hards—there wasn’t enough chaos in the crowd. And then I looked at the band members. !!! has been around since 1996, so there have been changes. (RIP to Mikel Gius and Jerry Fuchs.) But most of the members have remained the same, notably Nic Offer, whose “blue shorts” of the night were denim cutoffs. All to say that the band has been performing for nearly 30 years, and their fans are aging too. My expectations have been fixated on Gen Z for so long, I forgot that I am also getting older.
So even though I did stay longer at the show than expected, it was still earlier than I would have left even five years ago. Community kept me there. I have used this review to clown my fellow attendees that night, but in reality, it was comforting to have them around. The world was still turning, much the same as two days prior. Disappointment in LA’s energy is nothing new, even compared to two years prior. And art will continue to be made, and valued, maybe even moreso than it had been four years ago.
YACHT | buy New Release | website | their archive | Instagram
Sawdust & Gin 