Pablo ‘Libido’ [FringeTIX]
John Lattin @ The Tuxedo Cat
8:00pm, Sat 28 Feb 2009
My whole “five shows at The Tuxedo Cat in one night” plan was hatched from a desire to see this show; the thing is, I’ve no idea why I wanted to check it out. Nor why I didn’t opt for the gig later in the Fringe, which would’ve been much easier to schedule.
No matter, we’re here now, wodged back in The Tuxedo Cat (fresh drink in hand) with Pablo Libido and the Wild Robots – John Lattin on guitar and vocals, and a bunch of electronic bobbins as accompaniment. He was joined onstage by near-constant feedback problems; a result (it seems) of too many cooks fiddling with levels – both Lattin and the sound tech counteracting each other’s efforts in alleviating the noise. When the intended tunes were audible above the noise, what we found were a bunch of discordant tones, guitar seemingly at odds with the MIDI-esque synthed bass notes, fronted by whimsical lyrics.
All that changed with a tremendous pair of songs: “Ambassador of Love” and “Monkey See, Monkey Can’t Do” impressed mightily with their contrast of jangly verses and big fat power chords. From there, my interest was piqued somewhat: but nothing in the remainder of the show matched those examples, technical issues were rife, and I spent most of the rest of the show gazing longingly – or, perhaps, creepily – at two women sitting opposite me on the other side of the stage.
Beautiful, they were. Gorgeous. Unlike the bulk of what the Wild Robots could offer.