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The Last Shadow Puppets :: Observatory SD

August 12, 2016

Friday night at The Observatory in North Park, San Diego, The Last Shadow Puppets performed their second to last US date before heading off to Europe. While San Diego isn’t the most fertile ground for music fandom that doesn’t involve straw fedoras and sandals, fans came out in full force to see the wild bromantic British duo. Some die-hards drove all the way from LA and beyond and lined up around the block in hopes that they might get up front for a bit of sweat from frontmen Alex Turner and Miles Kane. The band took to the stage right on time, first the 4-piece string section, then the rest followed. The temperature of the venue rose immediately as Turner and Kane strapped on their guitars and moved into “Dracula Teeth” from their sophomore album “Everything You’ve Come To Expect” then into what would be considered a popular Puppet oldie “The Age Of The Understatement”. While Turner and Kane were backed by an excellent full band (featuring Mini Mansions’ Zach Dawes), they were still the main focus of the stage as they played off one another, sometimes seizing into a guitar stance and sometimes perched seductively on the monitors.

While The Last Shadow Puppets only have two albums, every song seemed like a gem and each time one began, the cellphones would go up – fans dutifully recording snippets hoping to capture a Turner leg kick or maniacal scream from Kane. Without saying much between songs, they pushed through sharp sexy screamers like “Bad Habits” then seamlessly into swanky cinematic numbers like “My Mistakes Were Made For You”. Turner and Kane occasionally swapped microphones and duties as main vocalist but at any given moment, either one was doing something that embodied their inherent swagger. It was the moments where they came together at the microphone or to hold hands when the room erupted into a sea of arms for the electric duo made by a monkey and a rascal.

They performed a biting cover of “Totally Wired” by The Fall where Miles crouched and screeched like he was possessed and judging by some of the arm flailing and general unhingedness, one might even think there was some kind of rock demon inside of The Last Shadow Puppets. Someone popped out from backstage carrying a giant wrestling belt and draped it over Kane’s shoulder, he then holding it up in victory. It didn’t make complete sense in the context of a concert but the audience cheered him on like he was a champion anyway. Turner fell to the floor at the end of “Sweet Dreams, TN” and female fans at the front swooned while pretending the song wasn’t blatantly about his current girlfriend.

Turner spoke in his deepened Yorkshire-meets-cowboy-drawl “Thank you for having us San Diego. We are America’s most smooth-talking dirt-bikers. This one is called ‘In My Room’ Baby” and they closed the main set. There were a few fans scattered at the back who seemed only interested in older tracks but as the night pressed on, it was clear that the new material was winning them over again. They returned again for a 3-song encore of “Dream Synopsis”, “Standing Next To You”, and “Meeting Place”. Swathed in red and green spotlights, they ended their attitude-driven set with the very appropriate lyric “I’m sorry I’ve left you.” Fans lingered for that last second before the lights came up hoping they might come back yet again but eventually herded out of the venue having been satiated by everything they’d come to expect.

Shot by me for BLURRED CULTURE

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