Bob Log III
Bob Log III @ Jive
10:00pm, Sat 4 Mar 2006
Score: 5
Support band Terrance Dicks (I think… they had a big “TD” on their banner, anyway) were ace. They played rock… good rock, of the fast pop-punk variety. Really very enjoyable.
The Town Bikes (as seen in The Burlesque Hour) popped onstage next; they performed the same cutesy dance act, with the exception that the accompanying audio track seemed a bit more profane. Fine by me; the Bikes are a good laugh.
And finally, replete in his black jumpsuit and motorcycle helmet (modified to accept a phone handset), on came Bob Log the Third. Bob’s claim to fame is that he can play slide guitar… really fast slide guitar, and uses a couple of foot-triggered drum machines (and another bass drum & cymbal) to form his own one-man-band.
His first couple of songs are incredible – he’ll play in time with his pre-programmed accompaniment, then switch the drum machines off with quick foot movements, change tempo in a bizarrely discordant manner, then kick the machines off again. It is, quite simply, brilliant.
For the first few songs.
Then he announces “this song goes something like this…” – and launches into a song that sounds exactly like the one before. And the one before that, come to think of it. And then you (or rather, I) think – “hang on, he’s a one trick pony”.
Bob knows this though, and has a bunch of distractions. The Town Bikes come out to dance alongside him. He jumps into a rubber raft and crowd-surfs whilst playing. He’s got a flashing jumpsuit.
But when he’s calling women out of the crowd to make “Boob Scotch” (by dunking their tits in his scotch), I’m calling shenanigans.
Yeah, he plays fast. Yeah, the first couple of songs are amazing. Yeah, he brought TD and The Town Bikes along for the ride. But Bob’s a one-trick pony, and there’s no disguising it.
Edit (18 March 2006): got Terrance Dicks’ name right :)