Photos and review by Jennie Book
@jenniebookphotography

Violent Femmes spent four nights in Los Angeles celebrating 45 years as a band, and on July 30, night three of the residency, they were in fine form with their particular brand of musical weirdness at The Bellwether. Before they came onstage, it was clear it wasn’t going to be a basic three-chords-and-a-drum-kit kind of evening. There were guitars everywhere, horns of all sizes, random percussion objects, a conch shell, a barbecue, a Pabst beer bucket, and an enormous contrabass saxophone. There was a lot going on.

The band used their four nights to revisit different parts of their catalog, with the third night centered around The Blind Leading the Naked, the 1986 album produced by Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads. Harrison was there in person, joining the band for much of the set on keyboards. They played “Candlelight Song,” “Old Mother Reagan,” “No Killing,” “Faith,” “Special,” “I Held Her in My Arms,” “Children of the Revolution,” “Good Friend,” and “World Without Mercy,” with Harrison spotlit on his keys.

Harrison seemed completely comfortable stepping into the Femmes’ particular brand of jamming. The songs would begin in familiar territory and then take a turn, with the musicians exploring an idea for a while before eventually going back to where they started. It happened often enough that we stopped wondering what was going to happen next and just went with it, which was fun for everybody.

Gordon Gano played violin with enough fervor that he sent strands of his bow flying, while Brian Ritchie spent the night working on his very unusual Big Johnson acoustic bass. Blaise Garza, born in 1989 we were told, moved between instruments, including the giant contrabass saxophone and the actual saxophone used during the original recording sessions for The Blind Leading the Naked.

One of the coolest moments for longtime fans was hearing “World Without Mercy,” a song written by original drummer Victor DeLorenzo. It was recorded for The Blind Leading the Naked but was tucked away as a cassette-only bonus track, so hearing it live was a pretty serious deep dive into the catalog. It was also its live debut, was was a super bonus for the fans.

After an intermission, the band returned with “Blister in the Sun” and the whole vibe of the place changed. The crowd went from listening intently to singing loudly almost immediately. “Kiss Off,” “Please Do Not Go,” and “Add It Up” followed, with lots of dancing and singing from the all-ages audience.

The second half moved through “Confessions,” “Prove My Love,” “Promise,” “To the Kill,” “Gone Daddy Gone,” and “Good Feeling.” “To the Kill” took a loud turn when Gano grabbed an electric guitar and went into a distorted, screaming solo. After spending so much of the evening surrounded by acoustic instruments and unusual sounds, it shook things up.

For the encore, Harrison returned for Talking Heads’ “Life During Wartime,” followed by “Black Girls” and “American Music.” Having Harrison there throughout the night gave the performance an extra connection to the album being revisited, but he didn’t feel like a guest dropped into the middle of their show. He was part of the night from the beginning.

The danger of a 45th-anniversary residency is that it can turn into a greatest-hits museum exhibit, where everyone knows exactly what’s coming and the whole exercise is mostly about remembering what things used to sound like. That wasn’t happening here. The familiar songs were played, and the audience loved them, but the band kept tweaking the formula enough to keep things interesting.

And that’s probably why Violent Femmes still make sense as a live band after all these years. They have a catalog full of songs people already know by heart, but they don’t seem particularly interested in treating those songs like they’re finished products. Throw in a conch shell, a grill, a giant bass, a giant saxophone, a violin bow that won’t survive the night, and you’ve got something way more interesting than a trip down memory lane.

Forty-five years in, Violent Femmes are still making fun danceable noise, which is what all four nights’ worth of fans wanted.

For all the latest Violent Femmes news and info, check out www.vfemmes.com.