Thursday, March 13, 2008

Gogol Bordello

I went to see Gypsy Punk band Gogol Bordello at the Showbox Sodo earlier this week. The music didn't excite me as much as I had hoped, but the band earns major props for delivering 2 1/2 hours of extraordinary passion and energy. The band leader, Ukranian-born Gypsy Eugene Hutz, is a powerful force on stage, by all appearances a true believer in the redemptive power of punk rock.



However, the night really took off at the after party. I'm sworn to secrecy about the location, but over the few hours they were in town, the band somehow managed to score a huge basement party room, stock the place with booze and other substances, and set up an all night dance party. The band showed up around 4:00 am to kick the party into an even higher orbit. That's DJ Hutz himself (hairy blur on the far left) commandeering the turntables.

More than 300 of us danced until the sun came up. That's a rare treat here in Sleepytown.

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