“That show made me feel like I was having the best seizure of my life” – Pedro Lopezdevictoria regarding last Friday’s Reptar show in Athens, GA.
I would have to wholeheartedly agree with that statement and also add that after the show, I was covered in half of Athens’ sweat. The stench is probably never going to leave my spring break 2001 tanktop, just like how the memory of that fantastic show is never going to leave my brain. Once again, the 40 Watt Club put on a brilliant show, doing a fantastic job of both light and sound. I’ve been to four shows in Athens now and every single time the crowd has been amazing. Everyone there is so passionate about music, and this was especially prevalent at this Reptar hometown show. Everyone there was raving about how many times they had seen Reptar and how much they love them, sometimes to the point of pretension. But it’s okay because this crowd full of fans made the show what it was.
Starting up the show were Grass Giraffes whose vocal levels were unfortunately very low so I could only hear their instruments. Though they were very good at the instruments they were playing, it was a bit much to have them play for 50 minutes and not actually be able to hear most of their vocals. I am sure they would sound a lot better if the sound was better but it was still an energetic, fun show. Next up were Grade Soda who played for half an hour which was stayed because Grass Giraffes played longer. I never see the second band play a shorter set than the first. Grape Soda reminded me of a mix of Youth Lagoon and Vampire Weekend. They had 2-3 members throughout, with the singer/keyboardist and drummer (spirit animal = owl) facing each other. They provided some good music to dance to which got the crowd warmed up for the insane dance party about to happen.
After an almost too long intro with a lot of darkness and bass, keyboardist William Kennedy walked out onto the stage holding a giant flower and started what was about to be one of the most memorable shows of the year. They kicked off the set with getting the whole crowd to hold hands then slamming into Body Faucet single Sebastian, one of the catchiest songs I have heard this year. By the way, this was an album release show for their debut album Body Faucet and you should take a listen to it. It is my favorite album of the year so far and it is going to bring Reptar above and beyond. Their whole set before the encore was the whole album back to front, and as I expected, it made this brilliant album sound even better. Lead singer Graham Ulicny had the crowd eating cake out the palm of his hand the entire show. Not literally because that would be too amazing, but metaphorically. Everyone in the venue was going off the wall and dancing their faces off. Every single member of the band brought everything they had, dancing and screaming and playing their instruments so well.
Natural Bridge, arguably the best song on the album, was a major stand out in their set. That song starts out strong and then just brings all the passion and energy that the band has and puts it into four minutes. I literally had no way to stop dancing. I think it is very impressive when a band can pour every single piece of energy into their set every night, and this is what Reptar did. At on point, Ulicny was going harder than most rappers I have seen, screaming into the crowd “CAN YOU FEEL IT” and making us reply “YES I CAN FEEL IT”. Their second-last song Three Shining Suns was a wonderful slow number and brought the whole crowd together, smiling and happy. Then they brought Water Runs out and just destroyed the crowd before leaving the stage. Seriously, check out Body Faucet. Instead of cheering for an encore, the crowd sung the “Oh oh oh” part from Sebastian which reminded me of when Arcade Fire played at Bonnaroo. To get a reaction like that from the crowd must have felt unreal to the band. Their encore was surprisingly long, including two amazing songs from their previous EP, Phonetics and Blastoff. It was a perfect way to end the night and I am looking forward to Reptar’s rise in the music world. They are one of the most unique, talented bands at the moment and deserve every piece of recognition that they get.
Setlist:
Sebastian
Please Don’t Kill Me
Isoprene Bath
Orifice Origami
Houseboat Babies
Natural Bridge
Ghost Bike
New House
Thank You Gliese 370 B
Sweet Sipping Soda
Three Shining Suns
Water Runs
Encore
Untitled new song
Blastoff!
Rainbounce
Phonetics
