Les Savy Fav, with The Dodos & The Big Sleep – 4.5.08, TLA, Philadelphia, PA

All I remember was trying to hide. I got really panicked when Tim Harrington announced, “This next song is dangerous.” In retrospect, I am unsure if the song prior Harrington was crowd surfing on a chair, lassoing the audience with his mic cable, or just generally tearing about terrorizing the fans, all in good fun of course, but terrorizing them nonetheless.

On the ride home Tim, the photographer, explained to me how in a crazed moment, Harrington kissed him. Tim was totally caught off guard as he was the first to get his face sucked. After Tim, Harrington, in all his frantic sweaty glory, started kissing other audience members.

In short, there was no hiding from the man. If you tried, Harrington would seek you out, like a homing missile. Even those in TLA’s balcony, drinking 6 dollar 10 oz. beers weren’t safe. With 300 feet of microphone cable, Harrington barreled through the wall of Live Nation’s (TLA’s owner) over-priced cooperate booze like match sticks. Racing through the audience, and up the stairs, Harrington scaled across the balcony, making sure that even those in the false sanctity of the drinking zone were privy to the heat of his breath, mad rants, and superhuman impossibility.

The only group who knew there was no hiding from Harrington was the band, who played song after song totally stone-faced. Only bassist Syd Butler would interject, politely thanking the audience after each song, at which point Harrington would start a new set of antics.

And that is it. Play kick-ass music, have a kick-ass frontman, and you are going to be rock legends.

Photos of Les Savy Fav, The Dodos, and The Big Sleep are located at flickr.