Flawless Rock & Roll Swagger: The Allah-Lahs Live
The Allah-Lahs Live @ Chop Suey
December 5, 2014
By Tori Dickson
The doors opened a little late and, once inside, people were anxious for the show to start. Eavesdropping on the conversations around me, everyone was asking the same question: “when do we get to see the Allah-Lahs?” Luckily, opener Tashaki Miyaki set the mood well, temporarily delaying the crowd’s anxiousness for the vintage sounds of the critically-acclaimed headliners.
Tashaki Miyaki’s stage was covered with strands of white lights and their drums and amps draped with white flowers. Featuring two girls, one on drums, the other on bass and a guy on guitar, all with long dark hair, the band delivered dreamy female vocal harmonies complemented unexpectedly by shredding guitar solos in each song. It was the perfect combination of rock and charm. The crowd seemed to enjoy it as they all gently swayed and bobbed their heads in their beanies and denim jackets.
When the Allah-Las finally showed, they could have been The Animals or The Kinks. They came from backstage as if straight out of the sixties with their shaggy hair-cuts, floral print shirts, slim-fit jeans and shiny black boots. They played songs mostly from their last record that everyone knew the words to and a handful of hits from the album that came out this year, Worship the Sun. Their music fits their appearance, the perfect meld of all sounds sixties; a little surf, a little garage, a little psychedelic with a little splash of their own modern, dreamy twist.
The LA band’s stage presence was calm but still full of rock and roll swagger while they played flawlessly. The crowd agreed, as everyone danced and sang along with clips of movies from the sixties played over it all on the screen behind the band.