07/25/08
Text: Nik Mercer
Hercules & Love Affair seemed a studio band from the get-go. Every press shot featured a different lineup, no plans of touring were mentioned, and the eventually-unveiled guest singer Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons) refused to interview or play with the live group.
All of that changed in the last two months or so, though. Andrew Butler's Hercules & Love Affair assembled as an eight-piece live band, including the question-mark Nomi and androgynous Kim Ann Foxman on vocals, two horns, a drummer, a bassist, some other dude, and, of course, Butler.
And Anthem presented the N.Y.C. natives' first L.A. show! The second ever!
The set was a spectacular rejiggering of Hercules & Love Affair's recorded material: the BPM was upped, the trumpet and trombone actually soloed (when have you seen a brass solo at an indie joint?), and the crowd roared.
The Anthem hosted after-party at MJ's successfully maintained the energy and kept the music going. D.F.A.'s Justin Miller DJ'd in his usual laid-back, spacey style along with Nitedog at the Starbucks Sorbetto, Belvedere Vodka, BB Dakota, and Toy Me-sponsored rager. Butler eventually showed up, too, and spun after Miller's two-plus-hour stint on the tables.
But pictures are worth a thousand words, so bounce on over to the Shadowscene album for a visual sum-up.
