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When Yeah Yeah Yeahs appeared on the scene back in 2002, riding of the NYC wave led by The Strokes, they were explosive. Their self-titled debut EP arguably outstripped "The Modern Age" as the most promising single to appear from the other side of the Atlantic, and they had a lead singer, Karen O, who had a penchant for thrift-store chic and screaming at the top of her lungs, a la Siouxsie Sioux. They were fresh, they were almost unbelievably cool, and they looked set to take the world by storm (if you'll excuse the cliché).
Since then, though, things have gone a bit quiet. Their debut album "Fever To Tell" failed to build on the initial hype, and now their first DVD looks set to explode the fuss over their live shows. Billed as the best frontwoman in modern rock, Karen O certainly packs a lot of energy - sprinting across the stage wearing a purple, high-cut dress for the opening "Y Control" and bashing into guitarist Nick Zinner, all the while going through the now well-rehearsed list of mildly obscene gestures involving the microphone. But she seems to have a necessity to spend the gap between songs throwing poses for the cameras and spitting water into the air, which would be fine were it not for the fact she takes ages about it. Some of the intros go on for minutes while Karen stops eating grapes and spitting them at the audience for long enough to sing. It makes it quite clear why we love The Strokes - they never hung about, never spent any longer than necessary to get ready for the next song, and never wasted our time.
To be fair, it is sometimes worth the wait. An explosive "Date With The Night" and an increasingly vulnerable "Maps" both wake the crowd up near the end, but most of the time the songs are too slight, partly due to Zinner's guitar regularly getting lost in the mix, to have any impact. A loosely hung together rendition of "Our Time" is the worst offender, never really getting going and lacking the drive necessary to lift the song into the jaw-dropping trash-rock it is on record.
The disappointment is compounded by two completely unrevealing tour documentaries (for want of a much better word - the crowd interviews consist of Americans telling you about how much they love the band until your teeth are ground to stumps out of irritation), a set of bonus songs (i.e. more slightly off-kilter live performances) and the realisation that the unreleased songs aimed at hardcore fans should probably have stayed unreleased. They do have that superb MTV Awards performance though.
This is all a bit harsh on the band really, who are more than capable of being incendiary both on- and off-stage, but it's that knowledge that just throws into sharp relief what a lacklustre performance this is. A real let down.
Since then, though, things have gone a bit quiet. Their debut album "Fever To Tell" failed to build on the initial hype, and now their first DVD looks set to explode the fuss over their live shows. Billed as the best frontwoman in modern rock, Karen O certainly packs a lot of energy - sprinting across the stage wearing a purple, high-cut dress for the opening "Y Control" and bashing into guitarist Nick Zinner, all the while going through the now well-rehearsed list of mildly obscene gestures involving the microphone. But she seems to have a necessity to spend the gap between songs throwing poses for the cameras and spitting water into the air, which would be fine were it not for the fact she takes ages about it. Some of the intros go on for minutes while Karen stops eating grapes and spitting them at the audience for long enough to sing. It makes it quite clear why we love The Strokes - they never hung about, never spent any longer than necessary to get ready for the next song, and never wasted our time.
To be fair, it is sometimes worth the wait. An explosive "Date With The Night" and an increasingly vulnerable "Maps" both wake the crowd up near the end, but most of the time the songs are too slight, partly due to Zinner's guitar regularly getting lost in the mix, to have any impact. A loosely hung together rendition of "Our Time" is the worst offender, never really getting going and lacking the drive necessary to lift the song into the jaw-dropping trash-rock it is on record.
The disappointment is compounded by two completely unrevealing tour documentaries (for want of a much better word - the crowd interviews consist of Americans telling you about how much they love the band until your teeth are ground to stumps out of irritation), a set of bonus songs (i.e. more slightly off-kilter live performances) and the realisation that the unreleased songs aimed at hardcore fans should probably have stayed unreleased. They do have that superb MTV Awards performance though.
This is all a bit harsh on the band really, who are more than capable of being incendiary both on- and off-stage, but it's that knowledge that just throws into sharp relief what a lacklustre performance this is. A real let down.
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