The Aliens
Augie March
September 26, 2007
Varsity Theater, Minneapolis, MN

If you missed The Aliens last night, you best find yourself another galaxy to orbit. We dare say it was in our top three shows of 2007 to-date.

Scotland’s supernatural phantasm, The Aliens, are former Beta Band co-founder Gordon Anderson (lead vocals, guitar), John Maclean (keyboards, backing vocals) and Robin Jones (drums, backing vocals) plus a few others helping on bass and guitar.

If you aren’t familiar with early Beta Band, or his Lone Pigeon/Fence Collective projects, it’s a common fact Gordon Anderson is a certifiable musical genius — to the point he’s needed to drop out of society at times for “treatment.” But over the course of his life, Anderson’s written 10,000 musical thoughts. That’s a LOT. He just needs help from his former bandmates to string them together and hold enough attention to a project to make it happen. Just like man can’t fight the temptation to tame fire, Anderson’s Beta brothers have once more attempted to domesticate his songwriting.

In our review of the group’s new album, Astronomy For Dogs, we wrote:

Writing psychedelic pop like they just don’t make anymore, these Aliens are operating in a sub-stratosphere we simply can’t comprehend without the prepare detachment from society (and pending psychiatric evaluation). More than once lyrics devolve into a repetitive chorus of “We are the Aliens” or “I am a Robot Man,” reinforcing this album is an experience meant to be consumed all at once.

And that goes for the live show, too.

With a fan gently blowing his Scofro (Scottish Afro, our term, thank you), Anderson kicked off festivities with album opener, “Setting Sun” – a fantastic choice, showcasing guitar, organ and drums from the intro to the outro. The crowd went nuts, dancing commenced and the stage was transformed into party central.

Immediately upon finishing, Anderson showed off his new tennis shoes like a second grader on the first day of school, “Next time you guys show us your trainers.” Then he did a little dance and kicked off track after track (”Only Waiting,” “Glover”). Songs flowed in and out; musical musings came and went; choruses were repeated, embraced and enhanced.

On “She Don’t Love Me No More,” Anderson had the crowd sing the title chorus, directing us with decrescendo to fade the song out. Superb.

And while Anderson is a special gem himself, we could never discount the musical chops of John Maclean, whose samplers, keys, vocals and “tck tck tck’s” into the microphone made every song better. At times we would look back at Robin Jones to see him zoned out, eyes rolled back, letting the drum kit play his limbs like a Rube Goldberg machine.

On the encore, “Rox,” one could feel Anderson’s resolve not to “go back.” And while we hope he never disappears from the musical scene again, we do hope he’ll stay in the Alien purgatory between insanity and genius.

In case you skipped the opener for bacon happy hour, here’s a look at what you missed:

Australia’s Augie March are no rookies when it comes to touring and earning critical praise. The group’s new album, Moo You Bloody Choir, went platinum in Australia (not hard, but still a feat) and won two APRA awards.

But last night was a disaster for the hyped group, particularly singer/songwriter/guitarist Glenn Richards, who spent the entire set bemoaning monitor levels and muttering about how tired the band was.

“I don’t feel like rocking tonight,” Richards sighed at one point.

“You guys rocked that last one,” someone shouted from the crowd to little reaction from the band.

Drummer David Williams did his best to lighten the mood, poking fun at the weather and trying to keep the mood light. But Richards wasn’t having it. On an acoustic number that featured keys and guitar, Richards got lost and stopped playing.

“Ah, I forgot the lyrics,” he lamented, as the audience nervously tittered. “I’ve sang it so many times, I don’t even know what this bloody song is about any more.”

And that was enough for us. Every band has off nights, and this was one of those nights.  But we sure won’t make any effort to see them again.