Black Lips at Heaven

Black Lips at Heaven

17 September, 2008
by: Domzig

It's always the shows that you weren't going to go to that turn out to be the best ones, and I so nearly missed Black Lips at Heaven last night.

Support King Khan and the BBQ Show are a bit of a find. Playing a mix of garage, snotty punk and 60s doo wop, the two guys are both really charming and really funny, even if they spend the whole set making fun of ginger people and London. 

Having been banned from venues in their native Georgia for general chaos that often involved frozen chickens and nudity, everyone's a bit on edge to see how Black Lips pan out: Jesus, they do not disappoint. Playing sing-a-long country/garage punk that gets the crowd super into it, everybody goes mental from the get go.

However the real fun comes from Heaven's bouncers: a bunch of comedic geniuses. How Heaven managed to get these guys is beyond me, but they are like a mix between Max and Paddy and the Chuckle Brothers. Slightly miffed about the stage diving ('der's fousands a' paands worth of lights up dere') they basically start laying into anyone who ventures up on stage, and as this is a punk show, there's quite a few.

Deciding the best way to stop this behaviour is to kill the show half way through, they instruct the sound guy to turn down the vocals. After a cursory hail of empty beer glasses and boos, Black Lips just shrug and play without vocals, resulting in everyone singing along and getting up on stage.

Obviously fearing that this could turn ugly at any stage, Security decide that the best way to deal with the reprobates is to stand on stage like a squad of watchful sentinels. Cue kids jumping on stage, running round and jumping back off the stage before being caught by one of the hapless bouncers who spend the show running around aimlessly like Keystone Cops or a really violent Benny Hill sketch. If one of the knuckleheads does catch a kid, he's subjected to a barrage of beer and whistles.

Somehow Black Lips get to the end of the show, and in one final twist of comedic excellence, lead singer Cole asks the bouncers if it would be OK 'to go crazy for one last song'. As the security shake their heads in exasperation in alarm, he then turns to the crowd and goes 'see, they're cool with it'. The whole place erupts with kids, band members, and bouncers all in different states of nudity all jumping in and out of the crowd. The best stage show I've ever witnessed.

I feel sorry for anyone who couldn't go to this one – Black Lips turn beer into chaos.

Check out Black Lips profile for more info and upcoming shows

Check out upcoming events at Heaven
(You'll be lucky to find more gigs after this shambles but it is a cracking club!)

Read Marcus's guide to the Best Indie Venues in London

Domzig