WOO, this spicy summer. MAN.
Hey there! For the past three tropical months, we attended every gig, felt relief from the deep summer heat by spending some of our days hibernating with the air conditioner, and loaded UP on some post-work mojitos. So yeah, it was a good summer.
When Igorrr got their visa issues fixed and announced their rescheduled 2022 North American tour for 2023 with a stop at Irving Plaza featuring a groovy bill including Melt Banana and Otto von Schirach, there was no way we would not dance like Gumby. After enjoying an always great Eastsider Burger at Paul’s Da Burger Joint in the East Village, I coasted towards the venue to soak in the mild late summer breeze as the doors opened when I arrived at 6:30.
I had no interest in seeing Otto Von Schirach open the show, but that quickly changed. Making his gussied-down return to Zoo York after a nineteen-year absence, Otto von Schirach woke up our Amygdalas, having us do it up like a bunch of wacky inflatable tube men and knocking out some sweet American IDM and breakcore to boot. Otto did not run out of energy for a second, filling the room with enough static for Melt Banana to charge up.
Twisting the air was the Japanese noise rock duo Melt Banana. I never saw them, and while Otto Von Schirach was loony, Melt Banana managed to make the party even more far-out. Yasuko Onuki would wave her arms up and down like a malfunctioning GoBot throughout the forty-minute set. Any moment Yasuko queued up a number of drum beats on what looked like a Kamen rider morpher, I thought she was getting ready to do a henshin transformation. Her moves assisted the razor-sharp guitar riffs from Ichiro Agata, and the audience enjoyed every moment while they toxic waltzed to Melt Banana and their grindcore, pop-influenced art rock. After what felt like a zodiac mind warp, it was time for Igorrr.
As primarily a heavy music fan, I felt I needed to see Igorrr at least once. Ever since I heard Savage Sinusoid in 2017, I had to witness the brainchild of Gautier Serre blending various genres of music like electronic and black metal in a live setting.
At around 9:30 P.M., Gautier Serre, the maestro of his craft, graced the stage to embrace a moment Igorrr fans waited 568 days for and grazed into Spaghetti Forever. After starting strong, Igorrr took New York on an unconventional journey of Igorrr’s music while infusing styles of Balkan music, baroque, death metal, electronic music, and Indian music. Whether individually or as a duo, witnessing the style and swagger of Jean-Baptiste Le Bail and Marthe Alexandre showcase their excellent vocal talents was stunning and reminded everyone how unique Igorrr as a band truly is.
While it seemed a very long set, the mosh pits did not chill out for a minute as Igorrr kept Irving Plaza plugged in. Igorrr gave a supercharged performance with great songs like Camel Dancefloor, ieuD, and Opus Brain. They had a great cross-section of cuts covering the history of Igorrr – and all sounded superb.
It was one of the best summer nights Manhattan had out in a while. After their performance with Igorrr leaving Irving Plaza in smoke, I headed home to prepare for my final gig of another wet hot American summer with Kirk Windstein inside the church of Saint Vitus the night after.
