MUSIC: Peelander-Z / Music Hall of Williamsburg
Photo: Bryan Bruchman
"Japanese action comic punk band" Peelander-Z is a gang of primary-color caped crusaders who expend more energy during one song than most bands use up in an entire tour. They are not an easy act to follow. On Saturday night at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, the opening bands were probably happy to have earlier slots, especially since that meant they could relax and enjoy the spectacle with the rest of us.
The Soundscapes, a.k.a. Brazilian brothers Raphael and Rodrigo Carvalho, played first; they wear their Sonic Youth influences on their sleeves, but they neatly recreated everything that was good and propulsive about the early nineties. It's safe to say that Brazil's loss is Brooklyn's gain. Later, An Albatross brought their dance metal freakout to life: everything you've heard about their live show is pretty much true, and this one boasted a badass "supplementary percussionist" and a projection of “Fantastic Planet” on the wall.
Peelander-Z has been touring for weeks without drummer Peelander-Blue—his substitute, Peelander-Green, even took over the band's MySpace blog—but P-Blue was in the house (and on the floor, and on top of the crowd) this weekend. That left P-Green free to handle other tasks, like donning a tiger head for "Mad Tiger," waving placards with each song's title (conveniently, P-Z's song titles are often the song lyrics) and shredding on Peelander-Yellow's guitar while P-Yellow was busy doing... something else.
So let's see, what happened during Peelander-Z's set? The usual: a conga line with the audience, a round of limbo, a rowdy game of "human bowling" and an autograph session with bassist Peelander-Red, who Sharpied the letter Z on upraised hands. Remarkably, the band's only evidence of injury was an Ace bandage on P-Green's knee; this didn't stop P-Green from clambering up the railings to the balcony, leaping over the other side, sliding down a column and crowdsurfing back to the stage. For their last song, the Peelanders unleashed "S.T.E.A.K." to cheers and chants of "medium rare!" After a show like this, the only logical finale is a group singalong to Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On," and that's exactly what we did. —Mary Phillips-Sandy