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Kool Haus

April 18^th, 2007

The Kool Haus has had its share of amazing live acts this year, but none of them as anticipated as the return of The Walkmen. Unfortunately, this time the New York indie rockers would not be the "main-event" of the evening, they would have to share the night with Brit-rock band Kaiser Chiefs. Waiting in line for this show was very painful for most people. The very pretentious Edge 102.1 interns tried their best to stand out and entertain the crowd, even going as far as putting condoms on their heads. A few of us got a quick glimpse of Hamilton and Matthew as The Walkmen made their way into the venue. When everyone was finally allowed to enter the Kool Haus, the night started off very slowly because another opening band, The Annuals, were running late and it was still undecided as to whether or not they would still be performing. A lot of the older crowd sent their time at the bar, possibly trying to get drunk enough to be able to handle Kaiser Chiefs and to hype them up for The Walkmen. When the show finally got underway, The Walkmen got right down to business. They played a lot of new stuff in the beginning of their set, which helped get the crowd started. Hamilton's vocals were very powerful during their performance of "The Rat". A lot of lighting used during the song gave their set a more groovy feeling, which the fans really responded well too. The boys brought in a trumpet player and a trombone player during "Louisiana", which made them sound like a mini orchestra of sorts. "Little House Of Savages" had the whole crowd going crazy. Hamilton's vocals were amazing, but I felt bad for the man because it seemed like he was killing himself. The crowd was treated to some of his trademark stage antics, which include: flailing his mic stand around like a wild man and kicking everything and anything in his path. Matthew was furious on the drums, which added fuel to this fiery crowd of Walkmen fans. After all the excitement was over, the Brooklyn boys went back to playing slower songs.  Paul's piano playing during "What's In It For Me" was incredible, Hamilton gave much softer vocals during the song, which had every heart in the crowd melting, especially the young girls. Their 45 minute set was short, but very sweet. They ended the night with a song from "Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone". Paul was given a noise maker, which sounded beautiful with his piano playing and gave them a sound similar to fellow New York indie rockers The French Kicks. After the Walkmen lefted the stage, most of their loyal followers left as well. Out of curiosity, some people stayed to see if Kaiser Chiefs could regain the spotlight after having their own show stolen from them.  Their set unfortunately was like most of their work to date, very mediocre.  Their new single "Ruby" was able to generate a mild rise out of their fans, but was hardly impressive. Their new record gave them a few upbeat tunes that held the momentum of their young crowd for about half of their set, but the momentum died down once they had used up all of their hit singles. The Walkmen have proven once again that you don't have to be in the main-event to steal the show and with the success of their record "A Hundred Miles Off" and another record due out in 2008, expect to see these full-blooded New Yorkers steal the show once again.

ANYONE WHO HAS SUGGESTIONS FOR ME OR COMMENTS ON HOW IT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER, PLEASE LET ME KNOW