4.2 Ratatat @ The Henry Fonda
The Brooklyn-based duo Ratatat proves you don’t need a bunch of band members, or even any lyrics, to create gorgeous, cinematic soundscapes. And the fans at their sold out Henry Fonda show proved really drunk people never dance as well as they think they do. But, aside from the elbow wielding, drink spilling, stumble king who terrorized audience members on the right side of the stage, most of the night’s uber enthusiastic fans only added to the heady, highly charged sensory experience. In fact, those who were moved to Russian folk dance, unleash Indian war cries, and shake their arms in the air like they’d wandered into a rave sometime in 1989 and just found their way out, all added their own special something to the show. Enhanced by fog, lights, and a shifting video background, the band crafted an uplifting, multidimensional experience heightened immensely by the effect that made it look like Mike Stroud’s enormous, hair-flipping, guitar-shredding shadow was going to stride off the stage and stomp the audience like a giant rock ‘n’ roll King Kong. Controlling the night’s mood with pitch perfect precision, the band shifted from subtle and moving to the kind of pure rock onslaught built on monster riffs and killer attitude. The whole experience was so transcendent that I found myself wishing for a way to recreate it, all of the time, forever. And I knew that the CD alone would never generate quite the same impact. So after the show, I invited the lads in the band to help me establish what I’m calling the Ratatat Room; you know, a space in my future house where I can open the door 24-hours-a-day and get Ratatated by the band’s live show. “You mean we’d be like interns?” joked Mike Stroud. “No, you’d have interns!” I said. Dare to dream, right?
