Julien-k at Evening Star 8-10-17

7 years later Julien K returned to WNY for a show. I was excited! They released 3 albums in that time, and their sound has changed a bit since their first record. I’ve been supporting all their crowd funding campaigns, and following them on FB, and my interactions with them have all been great (unlike my interactions with The Tea Party). I didn’t get VIP tickets that included a meet and greet, cuz well..it’s not that important to me to meet bands anymore, plus I figured they’d be around the venue before/after.

There were 2 other openers, Optic Oppression and Ghost Feeder (who was decent and I got one of their cds), then Julien-K. It was a supporting spot for Pig, so I knew it wouldn’t be a full set, but they did a nice mix of songs from all the albums, and didn’t just play songs only from California Noir. I couldn’t find a setlist for this particular show, but this one looked about right:

Death to Analog
Strange Invisible
Dossier
Deep Beat Overground
Kick the Bass
Futura
Mannequin Eyes
Flashpoint Riot
Blue Monday

The show was freaking great! So much energy. There were shades of the old Ryan from Orgy, but as a front man, he’s established a style of his own…part guitarist, part Dave Gahan. The songs sounded great, and it was fun! Evening Star is a smaaaaalll venue, where you can get up close and personal with your favorite rock idol’s crotch if you want, still no barrier after all these years, and Ryan acknowledged that they knew it would be a small crowd, but that they appreciate our dedication and support for their campaigns etc. They truly seem genuine in their appreciation of their fans, which is a nice change (again, see The Tea Party).

They were indeed around before and after the show, I gave Amir the photo of us from 1999, just because. I didn’t really talk to Ryan, as he was talking to other fans and then involved in a conversation at the bar with…Danielle! Ha! Danielle and her brother David were at the show, as I sort of expected. I texted Danielle before the show started to see, and we met up and talked a bit. Haven’t seen her since the last show 7 years ago, and we didn’t really get to talk then, and I hadn’t seen David since we graduated college. So it was nice to see them and catch up a bit, but I didn’t want to interrupt them during Pig just to talk to Ryan about…well…nothing. Cuz other than saying they were great, which J and I did when we did interrupt to say goodbye to Danielle and David, I have nothing else to say to Ryan. I don’t know what to say to strangers!! lol

But even though *I* don’t have anything to say I think it’s great that they are so accessible to their fans, in person and on the web. It’s such a difference from other bands, and it made this show a very enjoyable experience. It was a show I was excited to see, that didn’t end up as a let down because the band is full of assholes. There hasn’t been a show that I enjoyed that much in a while, because even though the Transmission shows were great, there is something not fun about the Tea Party anymore. Or they are just a heavy band that feels serious. Other shows since then like Garbage, or next week (Guns n Roses) I didn’t have much investment in even though I wanted to go, so they were good, but this was just fantastic. Loved it. Hopefully they won’t wait another 7 years until they are in the area again.

Pig was the headliner, most people were there for them. They were alright. They are ex KMFDM members, and I’d say I enjoy KMFDM much more, because they have more of a groove or melody to them, that I enjoy.

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