Recap: Ty Segall, Timmy's Organism, and Thee Oh Sees at PJ's Lager House

Thursday, September 27th

PJ's Lager House has been slowly evolving over the last several years. Rehabbing the kitchen looks like it's paying off, judging by the popularity of the food at a low-key event there a few weeks back. I can't say whether or not the record store in the basement idea has done as well. The latest experiment was to have a two day blowout bonanza under a large tent outside (at least I think this was the first time they did this). It was priced at $15 a day, a bit more than you'd expect for the Lager House.

I'm sure the position of the tent pole was necessary, but it seemed a bit inconvenient.

Timmy Vulgar seems like he's been playing around town forever, and I can't name all of the bands he's been in. I don't know the guy, but I get the impression that he should be a character in a David Lynch movie. He organizes Panic in Hamtramck at The Painted Lady every year, and also has a weekly taco night there (you can't make this stuff up). I saw the 3-piece Timmy's Organism play for a bit at The Belmont once several years ago, and wasn't taken in. For the record, a large circus style tent has better acoustics than the Belmont hallway. It all sounded better this time, even if I couldn't understand the lyrics at times. The performance was fast-paced and loud. The crowd in the front half of the tent all swarmed and collided into each other like the contents of a blender. The highlight of the performance was seeing a 50-something white guy stage dive, twice. The second time was less successful, as he landed hard on a skinny hipster boy, who looked very dazed afterwards (I spotted him again later in the evening, and he seemed fine enough). You can't expect a waifey vegan to catch a paunchy old drunk.

Before every band starts their set, they always ask for more of something in the monitor. Always. I've never heard a band say, "The initial monitor levels are exactly what we hoped for", or "There's too much in our monitor". Ty Segall was the most monitor-based demanding band I've ever seen. After their massive monitor needs were met, they launched right into a high energy set. The tightly packed crowd pushed one way and the other. The only safe standing position with breathing room had to have been back by the beer table.

This video doesn't have the where the kid first shimmies up the pole, but you can see where he comes down. He wasn't up there too long. You can see PJ start to fret over the pole's stability. It would remain a concern the rest of the night.

Timmy Vulgar still had some energy left after his own set, and didn't want to be left out of the crowd surfing.

Ty Segall didn't want to be outdone, and during their last song surfed the crowd while still playing.

Last up was Thee Oh Sees. It looked to me as though there wasn't any audience shrinkage after Ty Segall. Everyone stayed on, and they were just as rowdy.

This time, there were people posted to protect the tent post. One guy was even thrown out for repeatedly running into it.

Day 1 of the 2-day tentapalooza was a success. The venue pulled it off, and the only negative thing I heard all night was, "Every band was late for sound-check". To me and everyone else there, it was epic. The alphadrunk award goes to paunchy stage-diving 50-something guy. A close second to the rotating assortment of girls who stood on the side of the stage, not realizing that a tent doesn't really have a backstage area.

This post by:

I'm a dork, I live in the Detroit area, and sometimes I take blurry photos on an outdated camera