Showmanship. There's still a place for showmanship. Gogol Bordello shows are the place. Friday night, they made good on my expectations of a crazy-awesome show, and I have the bruises and sweat-stains to prove it. The Gypsy punk band from various parts of Eastern Europe by way of the Lower East Side have a reputation for being one of the best live acts around. Frontman Eugene Hutz is the one that makes sure the reputation is upheld. He must have endless supplies of energy or cocaine, because it seems unfathomable that a man can be that much of a spaz on a nightly basis. Spaz in a good way, of course. He jumps around with his shirt off and bellows his songs in a voice that I've seen best described as, "somewhere between that of Borat and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog." The fiddle and accordion make up the rest of the vital parts of the band's crazy Eastern European Gypsy style, and the guys playing them were quite the virtuosos. Then there are the two identically dressed hot young girls that come on for to bang on drums and cymbals and dance and sing backup and look hot, which they do very well.
The front of the crowd is not the place to be if you're not into getting jostled around and shoved a little. There wasn't any out-and-out circle-pit action, but it was close to that level of mayhem. Fantastic show. Definitely go see them at some point in your life, even if you don't care for the music.
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