Andrew W.K. / High On Fire / Vaux

live in Cincinnati (2003)

ZDP

So the night of the big Andrew WK show finally came around in Cincinnati. After purchasing my ticket and wandering around the neighborhood for a while, my friend Ben and I entered Bogart's when the doors opened at 7:30. We passed the time talking to all of the different people at the show.

At about 8:30, the first opener, Vaux, came on. I had downloaded some of their stuff earlier, and it must not have been the same band. These guys totally blew away any negative thoughts I had about them. Not being that big of a fan, I'm thinking they played the bulk of their songs from their album, There Must Be Some Way To Stop Them. They had very good stage presence, and didn't say much to the crowd between songs. Pretty much all they said when they came out was
"Hello, we're Vaux from Boulder, Colorado, it's time to rock". They closed with "Set It to Blow" and left the stage. Not many people were into them, for some reason.

Next up was High On Fire. They were really nice guys, as I talked to their bass player throughout their set. One problem though was their music. The songs would start out pretty good and strong, and would then attempt to repeat this formula for about 4 minutes, which sadly fell flat on its face.

So after their set ended, after what seemed like an eternity, about half an hour passed before the lights were turned out, and out came Mr. WK's band. They played a brief instrumental, then Andrew himself came out. They went on to play another instrumental, with Andrew on keyboard before launching into a vicious version of "It's Time To Party". Needless to say, the crowd was more than willing to agree with him. "Take It Off" followed, which was then follwed by a new song which was called "No Rules" (?). Those both went over well with the crowd, but then they went right into my favorite AWK song ever, "Ready To Die". There, the largest pit I have ever been a witness to happened, and I was gloriously smashed against the barricade for it. During "She Is Beautiful" the mic was thrown out right to myself and Ben, as well as other people scrambling on top of us. "Never Let Down" was played, and I thought it was a good departure for him, a slightly slow song. "Party Hard" and "I Get Wet" rounded out the set, and I made it on stage for once during the latter song. I hung out with Andrew and the band around back after the show, great guys, great time. Best show of the year for me, easily. The setlist went a little something like this:

Sorry if I missed one in the setlist. I'll close by saying that this show drew all kinds of different people, metal kids, "mall punks", "real punks", emo kids, regular guys, "jocks", etc. And nobody had a problem with anybody, which in my opinion is how the whole scene should be.