Justice @ the Fonda, 10.08.07

This concert review was written by Bryan Hood, the latest member to the BIBABIDI family. Keep an eye out for posts of his in the future. He writes better than I.

Honestly I was pretty worried about last night’s Justice show. As much as I loved the album, everything I’d heard about their live performances had been—I hate to say it—bad. I was afraid they’d be one of those groups, that are great in the studio, but don’t really offer anything live. I was pleasantly surprised though.

Gasper and Xavier did a good job of sticking to the album, but adding enough variation so that things still felt fresh. There were lulls of course. "D.A.N.C.E." was much too choppy and drawn out to actually be enjoyed, a real problem when all you want to do is literally dance. But after that hiccup things improved, with songs like "Dvno" and "We Are Your Friends" sounding as good as—if not better than—their studio counterparts. The performance may have been a little uneven, but more often than not Justice showed a great knack for reading the crowd and giving them what they wanted.

Now on to Midnight Juggernauts, who opened for Justice. I know they weren’t who anyone came to see, but wow, were they fantastic. A very intense set which made me think of David Bowie, Castlevania, and the films of Leiji Matsumoto (he of Interstella 5555 fame). There was this nagging sense of familiarity to their material, but the whole thing was pulled off so well that it was very easy to forgive them for a little borrowing. Plus there’s something to be said about an opener who managed to entertain and induce dancing among a crowd where few people had heard of them.

The below [absolutely killer] live set originally came from a Kidz By Colette post.

Justice - Live Set (Radio Fritz 9.13.07)