Guest Review: Lady Sovereign, Young Love, Mickey Avalon @ Mezzanine 11/14

The following concert recollection was written by our pal Aaron Sunshine from the Passionistas...

I'd never been to the Mezzanine until I went there to see Lady Soveriegn. Lady Sov, if you've been under a rock without wi-fi, is a rapper from England who got signed by Jay-Z and is now blowing up all over the U.S. I'd like to talk about her, but she doesn't come up in this for a few hours, as everything started late, and she had two opening acts.

Young Love, a five piece from New York, opened the show, tepidly. They made that sort of dance-atmospheric music that neither got one moving or swooning. Their singer (who I think is the band) is one of the dullest front-people I've had the pleasure to watch in who knows how long. This might be because I go outside whenever I dislike a band, and did not have that option this time- but he was just like paint drying. He had one dance move (something like the Shoulder Lean Young Dro dance), one facial expression (Andrew McCarthy circa Less Than Zero) and one cadence, which you can hear at iTunes if your so inclined.

Mickey Avalon apparently has quite a back story- junkie, prostitute, etc. somewhere in Los Angeles. Despite his back story though, he pretty much only raps about what a stud he is. Which is rad and all- good dick jams are the Mount Everest of rap music (i.e., most people die on the way)- but it is really hard. I think he might be a good rapper, but it was hard to tell given the sound at the Mezzanine (which is just BASSSSSSSSSSS) and the fact that his beats were same-y. I really wish he had just used awesome commercial beats- 'Drop It Like It's Hot' or 'Jesus Walks' or something, instead of the boring indie beats he has. His stage show was rad though. He had a girl on stage with him the whole time- who had a model body and a perfect 10 face, and she made him into an object of desire. She certainly made the show much easier to sit through and their interactions were funny, and helped make the show much sexier.

Now it's about midnight, and Lady Sov's band has just finished setting up, and the DJ starts playing a bunch of grime, I guess to get everyone warmed up. So thoroughly warmed up, they start playing the Ch-Ching beat and Lady Sov jumps out, shouting Ch-Ching, Ch-Chi...and then turns around and starts waving her arms furiously at her band, who, a few moments later stop playing. What is wrong, Lady Soveriegn ? Well, apparently her monitors aren't working, and as she says, she 'wants to give us a real show, i'm the realest in the game'- which she is.

I love Lady Soveriegn. I should make that clear right now. I think she's one of the best MC's coming around, and I think she could conquer if she can persevere. She has a knack for hooks like nobody, and her flow is just so..listenable, addictive.

So there she is, one stage, wearing a shirt saying 'Biggest Midget In The Game', and she's talking to a sound person who seems to be telling her no, (as in no, those monitors won't work), and so she gives it another go, this time with Blah-Blah-Blah, and fuck all, she stops again. Whats wrong ? Well, she's on the verge of tears now, apologizing to the crowd that she doesn't want to fake it, and she can't her herself, and the soundman says well, sorry. So what does she do next ?

She smokes a joint that verges on a blunt, and tells the crowd she likes San Francisco, its full of gays and nice people, and the says, well fuck those two songs, here's a Sex Pistols song I covered for the OC- for some money. And the crowd goes crazy, and she lightens.

The rest of the set blows by, single after single, she bounces, comes back, bounces and we leave. It was rad.