Gogol Bordello w/ Pounded by the Surf
Showbox, Seattle, WA
03.14.16
The crowd is loud and the show hasn’t even started. The excitement is palpable, The Showbox sold out. Eugene Hütz enters the low-lit stage, acoustic guitar in hand, and begins a solo rendition of Gogol Bordello’s “Illumination” to a crowd hovering on the edge of overload. As the rest of the famed gypsy punk band slowly joins him on stage, and the tempo picks up, the room explodes. The two girls at the table in front of me in the bar grab their things and make a mad dash for the dance floor. The guys one table over are pumping their fists and singing every word, along with the rest of the audience. Gogol Bordello fans are a tribe of their own.
“What’s happening, my people? I see some of you were here last night. Are you properly hydrated? What did you hydrate with? Stoli?” This is how Hütz acknowledges the crowd to the second night of sold out shows in Seattle, on the tour celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the band’s acclaimed Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike. The band is in top form – a cooperative where everyone has their chance to shine – as they party their way through the entire album as well as a sprinkling of other favorite songs.
Backed by a drop cloth of the album’s famed sling-shot cover, the 9-person group powers through so hard that 40 minutes – and half their set – fly by feeling like 5. Hütz climbs the monitors, MC Pedro Erazo pumps up the crowd and keeps a spotlessly messy beat. There are violins, guitars, accordions, and washboards. Various band members grab the mic and incite the crowd, taking momentary breaks from their instruments. They are like an international marching band that all showed up with different sheet music and just said “Fuck it.” And they sound sensational.
I’ve never seen an entire venue so in sync with a band from start to finish, relaying every word, dancing non-stop. This is the reaction that Gogol Bordello provokes. Like a spontaneous combustion of culture clashes, they swing from punk to Latin, Eastern European folk to performance art with ease, all the while inspiring instantaneous human connection. So genreless it almost hurts – but ultimately feels so good – Gogol Bordello are officially the kings of mix-and-match, and if you haven’t seen them live, you are definitely missing out. Just your luck, they’re on tour through the summer.
Openers Pounded By The Surf. Well, they’re a cowboy-clad, instrumental surf rock band that sound like they stepped out of a vintage western film.
Gogol Bordello Set List:
Illumination
Sally
Never Young
Not A Crime
Immigrant Punk
Avenue B
Oh No
Dogs Were Barking
60 Revolutions
Mishto!
Think Locally, Fuck Globally
Underdog World Strike
Santa Marinella
Start Wearing Purple
Wonderlust King
Encore
Pala Tute
Darling
Alcohol
Baro Foro
Review by Stephanie Dore
Photos by Alex Crick
Gogol Bordello
Pounded by the Surf
