I'm never content to not see Gomez play when they come to town… There have been few tours when I have not seen them play, and never once have I been disappointed that I've made the effort to see the band. They are always fantastic live, with high energy, great songs, and typically very good sound. This particular evening at the Ogden Theater in Denver was no different... or was it? With no current release to champion, the band was pulling songs from their entire catalog to wow the audience and ended up playing a couple of songs that I had never actually heard them perform live.

One Eskimo opened the evening's festivities and they were fantastic. I had not heard their entire record, only the one single that has been garnering radio play, and so I was a bit surprised at how mellow the songs were, especially in comparison to the headlining act. The band did an admirable job on stage… acoustic guitar, bass guitar, percussion and vocals on top of playing to tape is not always the easiest kind of line-up, but the band played well and the crowd was very into their sound. The percussionist was perhaps the most fun to watch, as he played some sort of cajon and various other things that were not instruments, but instead were used - I would assume - to trigger drum samples.

As stated previously, Gomez broke out all the stops tonight and played a few songs I'd never seen them perform before, and quite a few songs that they've perhaps not played live for quite some time. The band came on stage to the sounds of the amazing Japanese ukulele duo Petty Booka's fun cover of "Whippin' Picadilly" that was recorded back some years ago, and proceeded to jump right in with "Revolutionary Kind." The song started off with drum loops and tons of keyboard, more a 4-on-the-floor, low-tempo, bass-heavy dance version than the rock we've come to love; drummer Olly Peacock started the song down playing keys and only after things really started to ramp up did he jump behind the kit to start hammering away at the rhythm. The band continued with a gritty and bombastic version of "Shot Shot" before playing a less Britty, more blues-infused grit-heavy "Silence". It was obvious by this point that the band was here to rock, hands down… Ben's guitar was loud and vicious as he riffed throughout the evening with a zeal and lion's grace that carried some songs into more rock territory. Such as on "Meet Me In The City," where the band slowed things down a bit but the guitar was loud and heavy, creating a weirdly relaxed, yet urgent, vibe before building to a noisy and frantic crescendo. What followed after was a brand new song that I believe is called "Step Inside" and was a little bit on the acoustic side, with some nice keyboards carrying the countermelodies.

The set was non-stop rock and the band played some amazing musical segues from song to song, like the super-low sub bass that rang out shaking the crowd for a full 45 seconds or so before breaking into the smooth acoustic strains of "Tijuana Lady." This song was wonderfully relaxed until the weird fall apart super sonic ending that flowed perfectly into a rippingly groovy version of "Hamoa Beach," complete with Tom's brilliant melodica solo… almost like a post-post modern Hooters with a ton of bass frequency. The band then launched - super bombastically - into the amazing song "Machismo" that I had never even heard of them playing live before. This was a true highlight of the evening as the samples rang loud and clear underneath such amazing drumming and walls of sound, the kind that I would never have expected from this band. The song was full of grit and power as Ben laid it down loud and heavy on guitar and Olly laid down some amazingly sonic beats, his hands and feet flailing around almost uncontrollably, but super tight. Keeping up the dynamic approach this song ended rather abruptly into the relaxed and mellow "Other Plans" with its sparse instrumentation and groove, complete with the musical turnarounds that make the song so amazing.

The band launched into full-blown '60s garage with "Girlshapedlovedrug," recalling the glory days of rock with Neil Diamond-esque accents, brilliant guitar parts, and some bouncy bouncy fun fun fun. Three guitars came out for the rocking "Bring Your Lovin' Back Here" another song I had not heard the band perform for more than half a decade. "Ruff Stuff" was loose and fun, Ian forgetting some lyrics and fudging around a bit, the band relaxed and having a great time as the song fell apart nicely. They played a very short, succinct "Whippin' Picadilly" before building up a huge wall of sound for "Little Pieces," creating a sonic signature that does not exist on the recorded version. 18 songs in, the band relaxed into a weirdly bassy and once more super bombastic version of "Sweet Virginia," exchanging the song's delicate hooks for subwoofers working overtime, weird rhythmic syncopation, and heavily distorted wah-infused guitar riffs. What a way to end the set!

For the encore, the band tripped through a very straightforward rock'n'roll version of "How We Operate," full of powerful drumming, loud and wild guitar solos, stops, starts, fills, and fun. This is possibly the best I've ever heard the band play this song live, with a huge shot of abandon. The show wrapped up with a straight ahead version of "Airstream Driver" wherein the sound man gets a bit aggressive with volumes and starts to crank everything up to a deafening roar. Ben's guitar riff in "Airstream Driver" pushes and pushes until everything else is drown out behind it before falling back into place in the mix for a climax of sound that has not been heard at the Ogden Theater in a very long time. Quite a night of rock, that for certain.

-David DeVoe

Gomez
W/ One Eskimo
March 8, 2010
Ogden Theater, Denver, CO
www.gomeztheband.com

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