Photos and review by NOTES FROM VIVACE
LOS ANGELES – Spacehog went classical as they walked on stage to Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9 Ode to Joy” to the screams and cheers from The Regent Theater crowd.
Bassist and lead singer Royston Langdon came out on stage as a glamor cowboy as the band opened up with a rock country twist on their Tin Machine cover “Crack City.” Langdon made sure that the crowd got the hint as he struck the stage floor with his boot, sending echoes across the venue throughout the song.
The band was wrapping up their West Coast tour with their fellow co-headliners EMF.
Having the time of your life was the theme of the set. During “Love Is A Curious Thing,” Langdon pointed towards a fan who was dancing off to the side of the stage. The band slowed it down for “Ship Wrecked.”
Langdon left the stage as guitarist Richard Steel led the band in a reminiscent opening. When he returned, he was bare chested other than a pair of red suspenders. Someone in the crowd yelled out, “Hot dog!” The song “Mungo City” had the two women working the merch table dancing hard. The lead singer of the opening band, Ecce Shnak, was near the stage doing the same.
Helping launch their West Coast tour was their song “In The Meantime” that found a whole new audience. Their press release mentioned, “In 2024 the band contributed to the GRAMMY-nominated soundtrack to Guardians Of The Galaxy 3. And now after this long ride the band has decided to saddle up once again.” As soon as the crowd heard the first guitar notes, they immediately took out their phones to capture the moment.
The band left the stage after “In The Meantime” to the roar of the crowd, which wanted their encore. With lights turned up high and the crowd enjoying the moment with arms raised high, the band sent everyone home with “Beautiful Girl” on the mind.
A significant amount of audience buzz could be heard prior to co-headliners EMF’s set. With an eclectic music intro, the band walked out on stage and were greeted with loud cheers. Lead singer James Atkin bounced on stage, high fiving the crowd. “Thank you, Los Angeles, it’s been too f*cking long.” And then drum technical issues popped up that took a few minutes to resolve, “We don’t get out of the house much.”
That technical hiccup did nothing to dampen the enthusiastic response the crowd had to the band’s social justice driven set. Their opening song “The Day The Music Died” distinctly had the word “Justice” inserted into the lyrics. The band introduced a couple new songs “Hands In The Air” and “LGBTQ+.” “Hands In The Air” was their solidarity protest song with those participating in the protests across America. Atkin added that if people wanted to add a UK twist to the song, the crowd could add “F*ck the king” into the lyrics.
Perhaps the most boisterous audience cheers were for “I Believe.” Their song of covers “Reach For The Lasers Medley” included hits such as New Order’s “Blue Monday” and Technotronic “Pump Up the Jam” and had the crowd following the advice on Atkin’s t-shirt: Sensible Raver. One perhaps little noticed move during the set was when bassist Stevey Marsh saw an errant water bottle on the stage floor and made his way over to it and gave it a kick out of the way. One has to assume that was guitarist Ian Dench’s water bottle as he later was seen opening up the bottle for a drink.
Throughout the set, Atkin and Dench showed a fun familiarity with each other. Atkin would often head towards the direction of his guitarist where they’d pogo dance to the beats of their music. For the band’s biggest hit “Unbelievable,” the two turned it into a little comedy bit as Atkin opened up with, “It needs no introduction. Ian, would you like to introduce the song?” Ian responded, “That’s sort of an introduction, isn’t it?”
The band signed off with a farewell to the crowd, “Keeping the faith since the 1990s.”
The opening band Ecce Shnak is an art piece rock band. Going with the UK theme set by Spacehog and EMP: take a touch of Queen, a dash of Siouxsie and The Banshees, and mix in George Handel for good measure with a New York City twist and you get Ecce Shnak. The band had a fun time entertaining the early arriving crowd with their onstage dance antics. There was an amusing case of mistaken identity when a call out was made to one confused audience member, “Did we meet at a show once before?”
Spacehog Setlist: Crack City (Tin Machine cover), Cruel to Be Kind, Earthquake, Love Is A Curious Thing, Ship Wrecked, Only A Few, Carry On, Zeroes, Mungo City, Starside, In The Meantime. Encore: Beautiful Girl.
EMF Setlist: The Day The Music Died, I Believe, Lies, Hands in the Air, They’re Here, Reach For The Lasers Medley, Children, Long Summer Days, Unbelievable, LGBTQ+, Inside.
Ecce Shnak setlist: 3 Anxieties. The Internet. Jeremy, Utilitarian Sadboy. Craig’s List Jawn: ¡Nay/Yay!. Shadows Grow Fangs. Prayer on Love. Velociraptor Swayze. Fight Song.
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