The El Rey Theatre on Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles put on a show chock full ‘o rock this past Thursday (Sept 8th). Ted Leo and the Pharmacists headlined, with the Tra La La’s, Foreign Born, and Go Go Go Airheart warming things up.
   The Tra La La’s started the night off with their quartet of tambourine touting beauties fronting a trio of male instrumentalists. The 50’s influenced pop rock sound was a good start to the night, especially with the four-fronting-femme’s seductive sway-dancing.
   Following those east coast Betty’s was the Los Angeles based band Foreign Born. They were probably the best of the three opening bands. The lead singer reminded me of Nick Gilder with traces of Mick Jagger in his dance moves. They played with passion and great energy, and the songs were pretty good overall. However, deeper into their set I got a little tired of the guitarist’s overdone mod whatever retro hair and stepped outside for some air (though it was an enclosed area for smokers, how ironic). Don’t get me wrong, though. Foreign Born is definitely worth seeing live, and I hope to again soon. The proof is in their song We Had Pleasure.
   The third, and thankfully final, opening band of the night was Go Go Go Airheart, who absolutely sucked sucked sucked. The San Diego based band had a clearly talented guitarist and drummer, but those were their only redeeming qualities. GGGA’s songs were incoherent, like a mushy audio slurry of noise. Their stage presence resembled a group of guys that have a band just to say they’re in a band and are like totally crazy rockers, dude. The lead “singer” missed whatever mark he was trying to hit by a mile. The bassist reminded me of Animal from the Muppets if he played the bass instead of the drums. However, their misfit appearance and crappy performance served as great entertainment and made me laugh as I grew tired before the main event.

   So finally all the opening bands were done, and it was time for the headliner => Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. Again and again this band has wowed me with tight play, tremendous energy, and flat out awesome songs. It was only my second concert so far in California, and my first time seeing Ted outside of NYC, NJ, or PA. The first time I saw him was in 1997 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was with Chisel and they played at some weird men’s club that didn’t even turn the lights off! Now, over eight years later, it was rad seeing his current band at the El Rey Theatre with hundreds of people packed in. Ted and his Pharmacists banged out a bunch of tunes mainly from Hearts of Oak and Shake the Sheets, but also threw in a new one (don’t know the name yet) and a couple covers. A pause in the action from equipment battery trouble allowed a few Ted-Heads to jump on stage and tell some really bad, pointless jokes, but it was amusing nonetheless. The encore ended with one of my favorite parts of all Ted Leo band shows => Ted playing solo and carrying the tune alone, with snappy guitar work and crisp vocals, the entire crowd focused entirely on him. It’s simply a cool site, taking nothing away from poignant drummer Chris and savvy rocking bassist Dave Lerner. Those two are incredible in their own rights, readily handing out prescriptions of original rock to the jonesin’ audience.
   Overall it was a phenomenal dose of live music, a refreshing infiltration of my beloved east coast, and a discovery of one sweet venue, the El Rey Theatre.

The Tra La La’s

Foreign Born

Go Go Go Airheart

Me and Ted