Yo Majesty, Does it Offend You, Yeah? @ the Bluebird Theater
By Ricardo Baca | May 14th, 2008 | No Comments »
Yo Majesty rocked their tops off at their Bluebird Theater show Saturday night. Photos by Laurie Scavo.
Saturday’s show at the Bluebird Theatre was as frustrating as it was fun.
The dancey rock show was fun for obvious reasons: The dumb dance rock of Does it Offend You, Yeah? And the boom-tap hip-hop of Yo Majesty.
But it was frustrating for unexpected reasons: The tiny crowd got crunked out for the stupid-fun music of DIOYY, but many of them left before giving Yo Majesty’s tight, Southern hip-hop a chance.
Their loss. Saturday’s bombastic bill was all about shaking your butt. And regardless of the fact that the theater was nearly empty, the small crowd didn’t disappoint. Kids broke themselves into dance circles all over the downstairs of the theater, and watching them get crunk was half of the fun.
Does it Offend You, Yeah? started late because they had arrived late. But the British band brought their meathead-trance A-game, and the crowd ate it up. Imagine an alternate-universe Andrew W.K. – a British-rocker version of W.K. who is obsessed with big, obnoxious, full-band dance beats and cheesed-out ’80s revisionism – and you have the band that is Does it Offend You, Yeah?
They’re great for 30 minutes, but I can’t ever imagine having to listen to them play any longer than that, especially because their setlist – which moved from “Let’s Make Out” to “With a Heavy Heart” – is samey, not unlike the electronic music their songs are fashioned after.
The best part of DIOYY’s set was unquestionably the encore. Firstly, the audience didn’t really ask for an encore, and the theater’s technicians didn’t expect it. The intermission music was already on, as were the houselights. But the Brits didn’t care. You could tell they had something up their sleeve.
Sure enough they rattled off a rambling Devo cover, “Whip It,” to the audience’s delight. But the musicality of the song wasn’t what made the crowd squeal. The singer was only vaguely familiar with the song’s “Go forward/Move ahead” chorus, and his fumbling over the words (while smirking a slightly embarrassed smile) made for a lovely rock ‘n’ roll moment.
But headliners Yo Majesty were the evening’s true stars. Lead MC Shunda K proved herself an epic, on-her-feet talent as she managed the rhymes with confidence and the kind of live presence that eludes most MCs. Jwl. B is her hype woman, a secondary MC who makes up for her lack of live vox with an electric, maniacal physical presence.
Yes, that’s her topless up top. (And here she is with her top on.)
About halfway through the group’s performance, Jwl. B went into a mid-jam dance that resembled a seizure. The sweet dance moves lead to the MC taking off her shirt and catching her thumb in her sports bra along the way, leaving one of her breasts exposed. No big deal is what the look on her face said as she then lifted her sportsbra over her head and continued the dance.
Yes, another lovely rock ‘n’ roll moment.
The Florida group’s music was the hotness, too. “Club Action” almost rivaled the dynamic recorded version. “Kryptonite Pussy” was hilarious and energized, if a little too long. “Leather Jacket” is a solid, pop-rooted party anthem that could break these ladies to a bigger audience. And “Party Hearty” was a silly outing that linked them to their openers – the party rockers DIOYY?
Ultimately Yo Majesty isn’t all that different than DIOYY? Like our buddy W.K., they’re all about the party. But Yo Majesty presents their music – with a DJ’s backing – with more skill than DIOYY, who come off like a bunch of wasted teenagers playing against a backing track in their concerts.
Ricardo Baca is the pop music critic at The Denver Post.
Laurie Scavo is a Denver photographer and a regular contributor to Reverb.
More photos from Saturday:
More from Reverb
Loading ...
