A Friday With Foxy

Friday night found Amber and I at the Martini Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona (yuck) to see Cincinnati's own Foxy Shazam. As mentioned in previous posts, we saw Foxy back in October. We left that show impressed and when we found out they were back in town, we were quick to get a ticket to see them again.

First off: the opening acts. The first band was Bad Rabbits out of Boston. They had the crowd dancing and really set the mood right for Foxy. Having never heard of 'em before, they could be described as a blend of De La Soul, Prince, and Chaka Khan with and even more urban edge. We liked them. Am I gonna buy their music? I dunno. I'd have to be in the mood. The second band, The Young Veins, destroyed what the Bad Rabbits had successfully built up. The YV's are fronted by ex-Panic! at the Disco guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist (now guitarist) John Walker. Even Amber was thoroughly bored by these twits who are certainly still living off the money they made from their former band. You can experience yourself their lack of originality and aptitude for the mundane and pretentious on their website. Stop ripping off the '60's guys, your career is over. In addition, the sound engineers in the back of the venue couldn't get their act together and everyone was getting a headache by the end of YV's set.

Much to the crowd's relief (except for a couple of Panic! obsessed girls that came to see YVs) Foxy Shazam quickly made their way on stage. Lead singer, Eric Nally, exclaimed that he only needs two things in life, "Love and Christmas Presents". That is what Foxy gave us the whole time, figuratively of course. I don't think I've ever been as exhausted watching a band as I was with Foxy. I'll chalk up some of that to getting older. Foxy started the concert by playing the manic "Yes, Yes, Yes" from their last album. This set the tone for the entire show with a blinding fury of arms, legs, feet, standing on things that shouldn't be stood on, flying hair, water over everybody, and a pause where lead singer Eric Nally displayed his ability to eat three lit cigarettes at once. Oh, and a healthy dose of comedy. Amber and I positioned ourselves up front stage left close to the bar where the under-aged kids weren't allowed. Smart move by Amber, cuz the crowd was into it and going nuts. Not that I'm complaining, I understand that I'm not 19yrs old anymore and I'm concerned Amber may get a knee to the temple or something. Anyhoo... There were several highlights to the show. Foxy is certainly a band that is better live than on CD, which scores a lot of points with us. I thought the best songs were: Killin' It, Wannabe Angel, The Rocketeer, Unstoppable, and Count Me Out. They also performed a soulful a capella rendition of "Evil Thoughts". The concert was ultimately cut slightly short with no encore. For one, the venue's sound engineers couldn't get the annoying little feedback on the vocals ironed out and the band inadvertently destroyed the wiring that went to the drums speakers near the end. Nevertheless, before leaving the stage, Eric Nally gathered the band again and had them perform "Evil Thoughts" for a second time a capella, which turned out to be hilarious. Following that, they tore into a long jam session with the remaining working sound equipment and then left the stage with the audience clamoring for more. The crowd wasn't pleased that Foxy couldn't play more. But there was really nothing the band could do about it. We only spent twelve bucks a piece in the concert, so we didn't feel ripped.


Afterward we briefly met Sky White, their talented piano player, and got the scoop on where in Cincinnati everyone was from. And on the way out, we met lead singer Eric Nally. That guy is TINY. All in all it was a good night for us. Catch Foxy Shazam if they're going through your town. They don't disappoint.