Chris McKay & The Critical Darlings

Thursday June 28, 2008
 

Gypsy G's

Greenville, SC

Amanda's review:

"The Critical Darlings' show at Gypsy G's in Greenville, SC was a great show by most bands' standards but mediocre-to-poor by Darlings standards. For starters, both Chris and Frank were sick. Near the beginning of the show, Chris apparently felt a wave of sickness (Note from Chris: I think it might've been a full fledged panic attack hitting me.) Although I couldn't tell what was wrong, I could feel the energy coming from the stage drop temporarily. After the first couple songs, Chris confessed his illness and anxiety about not being able to perform up to his usual standard. He said that two members were sick but wouldn't say which two. To that, Joe offered, "It's the thin, pasty ones!"

Now that the audience had the inside scoop, the energy rose again to what it had been (but not nearly what it normally would have been had the band been healthy). The set was changed up a bit, including THREE covers. I was pleasantly surprised that the audience seemed to prefer the originals to a classic song like The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar." I would expect it to be a sure crowd pleaser. But even I was not feeling it with the Stones song and was glad when they followed with "Rage On," which brought the crowd back.

Around this time, a sickening crackling could be heard throughout the mix. It turns out it was Frank's bass or cord or basses or something. Switching out the basses didn't help. Unfortunately, the crackling ruined Chris' solo in "Phony" and nearly overtook the whole mix.

Other than the bass issues, the band sounded tight and ended with a cover of Bowie's "Rebel Rebel." Chris leaped around a lot less than usual on this one. Still, in spite of the difficulties, quite a few fans were earned at this show and several thought it was one of the best performances they've seen by anyone. Obviously, those people hadn't seen The Darlings before! Wait 'til they seem 'em on a normal night!"