By David Thomas
February 17, 2004
Valentines Day is a time to celebrate romance. Saturday night, a reunited URGE
OVERKILL turned the holiday into a celebration of rock n’ roll at the Double
Door in Chicago. The night was the first of two sold-out affairs in the band’s
hometown, and it was the first time they’d played in the city in seven years.
Nash Kato and Edie Roeser remain from the original band and the two men
appeared older if not wiser for all their much reported rock lifestyles. They
demonstrated through a 70-minute-plus set that their catalogue still stands up
and perhaps the swanky charm of their riffs and upbeat choruses still resonate
with today’s WHITE STRIPES-loving music listener.
Before URGE even took the stage, impressive Detroit trio THE SIGHTS laid out
1960s inspired garage rock with plenty of skill and delivery. The normally
boomy club sounded better than average and soon after THE SIGHTS left the stage
the sight of two acoustic guitars gave away the upcoming secret guest act.
Jack Black and Kyle Gass soon took the small stage and offered up
their “Tribute” to URGE OVERKILL. TENACIOUS D favorites like “Dio,” “The Road,”
and “Double Team,” a special sentiment on Valentines, delighted the crowd.
Black was especially giddy and it carried over to his introduction of URGE and
when he sat in on a few songs during the encore.
But everyone who bought tickets for the show were there for URGE OVERKILL’s
return and the band had them from the opening “Ticket To LA” to the closing
of “Sister Havana.” Kato was decked out in a bright orange shirt and trademark
white vest. A few more bags adorned his eyes but otherwise the slim frontman
looked the same. Roeser had added some pounds but his intensity buoyed the set
as a young backing band more than adequately filled in on rhythm.
The set sampled a variety of tracks from throughout their years and even
featured a new song that was as strong, if not slightly derivative, of their
past material. “The Candidate” offered a timely political commentary more than
ten years after it’s release while others like “Erica Kane” seemed to fall a
bit flat.
Black came back to the stage to introduce the band, again, for the encore
proclaiming “I’m now in the band!” Unfortunately, his back-up vocals from the
keyboardist’s mic were drowned out during the encore. His cowbell contributions
during “Sister Havana however were clearly heard as Kato and Roeser dueled on
guitar leads during the finale.
Every element of the show made for a good night to be a rock fan. There wasn’t
much thought to appearances, trends or marketability. For once the music, even
if dusted off after seven years, seemed to be enough.
Next Week: more CDs.
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