CSS at the Concorde

CSS - Brighton Concorde2

My first gig of the year and one I went into with very high expectations having read countless comments on their "crazy" and "reckless" live shows. But first a word about the two support bands - Andy said it was possibly the worst warm up acts he'd ever seen! Oh well, I guess that made CSS even more welcome when they finally took to the stage at 10pm. They began with CSS Suxxx, then it was straight into Alala, with singer Lovefoxxx stripping down to her all-in-one leotard and diving into the crowd for the first of several forays into the audience. That's the first thing you notice about CSS, they are quite an unconventional band - they appear totally real, anti-fashion icons untouched by the 'evil' business - and they're led by a clearly bonkers half-Japanese girl who has the crowd in the palm of her hand. It's all about performance with Lovefoxx, she's the perfect front for the band and such fun to watch, throwing shapes, standing on the monitors and repeatedly trying to crowd surf! The music is good too - with an album as perfect as Cansei De Ser Sexy it couldn't be anything else - but live the subtleties of the bass and keyboards tend to be lost, and the songs come across more punky than the electro sound of the record. With a limited supply of songs, the whole album got an airing with Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above being the one song that really captured the spirit of the record and got the audience dancing. Returning for an encore the band played Patins with Adriano leaving his drumkit to come and play guitar, and then finished with a fun cover of L7's Pretend We're Dead which boasted a killer synth riff. CSS don't suck, CSS Suxxx!