The Zeros – The Muffs – Prima Donna – at The Troubadour

The problem with reunion tours is that they can be hit or miss. After a long break and many years, often times a band loses the spark and fire which drove them in the first place. Other times though a band comes back with renewed energy, and brings the house down. Luckily, The Zeros show with the Muffs last Thursday at the Troubadour in West Hollywood was one of the latter.

I arrived a bit later, around 9, missing Prima Donna's set, but already the bar and the stage room at the Troubadour had a decent scattering of people, and everyone seemed in high spirits. As the Muffs set up their gear on stage and got ready to play the room filled with people covering a huge age range.

Everyone from the Donnas to the Killers owe the Muffs some sort of musical debt, and their time off clearly has done them no harm. The set started off a little slow thanks to some technical difficulties in the form of some faulty cables, but the issue was quickly resolved and the Muffs were off and rocking. The crowd was clearly excited to see them, and people were bopping around from song one. The band themselves were clearly having fun, as singer Kim Shattuck and bassist Ronnie Barnett swapped memories between songs of the time CC DeVille played with them, and the last time they played with The Zeros. Their set seemed over far too soon, and the crowd was calling for an encore as the Muffs left the stage, but unfortunately there wasn't time.

It was hard to be too disappointed though, as headliners The Zeros were up next. By now the Troubadour was fairly well packed, and people were squeezing in close to the stage as best they could. After what seemed like an interminable wait, The Zeros finally took the stage to a deafening roar of applause. They didn't waste time chatting, but dove right into their catchy mix of Punk and surf rock. The crowd loved it, and there were huge smiles on faces all around. When the band played their hit single "Don't Push Me Around" a small but enthusiastic pogo pit broke out, and stayed active through the rest of their set. The band played non-stop for close to an hour, hitting all the old favorites, as well as their cover of the Standells' "Good Guys Don't Wear White" in response to a repeated fan request. The Zeros also gave a shout out to the Muffs before playing "Beat Your Heart Out", saying the Muffs play it better, which is debatable at best considering the performance The Zeros gave. As the band wound up their set and left the stage, the audience screamed for more, eventually succeeding in calling them back for a single song encore.

As people variously filed out the bar, to the merch tables, or to their cars, there was nothing but breathless joy and satisfaction... and the hope that we'll be seeing more of both these bands in the very near future.

The Zeros MySpace: www.myspace.com/thezeros

-Jo Problems-
Big Wheel Music Scene Reporter
 

 
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