'Nacle Week 3: Tokio Hotel - 10/26 @ Tabernacle
Last show at Tabernacle for the week. And it ended on an high note, albeit one of shrieking girls.
As I mentioned in an earlier recap, as I was leaving TV On The Radio with Kim, there was a group of about a dozen girls hanging out by the entrance to the Tabernacle. Turns out they were camping out overnight to be the first ones inside to see Tokio Hotel the following night. I was stunned, I didn't think anyone camped out for shows anymore once the Grateful Dead and Phish were done and camping out for a band that hardly anyone, who isn't a teenage girl that is, has heard of? Let alone, camping out in front of the Tabernacle in downtown Atlanta. I'll go downtown, I'll stay out late downtown, but you'd never catch me camping out downtown. That's insane. Something about homeless guys and under aged girls just doesn't seem like a good combo to me.
But insane is what these girls go for Tokio Hotel. So who is Tokio Hotel you ask? First off, they're not the indie rock band Tokyo Police Club, that's another group. And yes they spell their name that way on purpose. And apparently they're HUGE with the under aged girl set. They recently won the MTV Best New Artist Award at this year's VMAs (an award that lost all relevancy when Aerosmith beat out Beastie Boy's "Sabotage" for video of the year way back when...). The big deal about that win is that was the one award chosen by the fans. So Tokio Hotel not only beat out faux-sexual Katy Perry, but also Hannah Montana herself Miley Cyrus. C'mon, that takes something to unseat a teenaged juggernaut like that. And are they some kind of boy band? Nope, basically they're a German emo band.
The show was "an evening with" Tokio Hotel, which meant they were the only band playing and it still practically sold out. Did I mention this was their first ever show in Atlanta? And the crowd was screaming for the band non stop for almost an hour. Anytime the curtains moved, they started shrieking louder. I was so glad that I brought my earplugs to the show. And even before the show started, girls were passing out and they kept passing out throughout the show. I lost count at about 16 or so. These girls were also getting into fights in order to get a good spot in front of the stage. One girl was pulled away with a bloody nose...all for Tokio Hotel! And with the audience 80% under the legal limit, I spent my time hanging out with Lisette and Emily by one of the bars so I wouldn't creep out any of the parents at the show.
And then the lights went down, the shrieking got even louder and the curtains fell to reveal Tokio Hotel. Who all looked like they were all of 15. The drummer looked like Sean Astin, the guitar player looked like a hip hop skate rat, the bass player looked like a younger version of the bass player in AC/DC and the lead singer looked like an androgynous anime character with Sonic the Hedgehog hair. He was so anime looking that I was fully expecting a pokemon battle to break out at any time.
Musically they sounded like "Fisher Price's My First" AFI or a more wholesome, watered way down hair metal band. There's nothing spectacular about them in the least. Other than their looks and that one dude's hair. So I don't get the hubbub, but then I'm not an under aged girl. They're decent musicians for their age though. They also had a semi interesting visual display to go with their show, but the graphics looked too "I Love the 80's" for my taste. And the lead singer spoke to the audience in polite, German efficient banter. They played their big song "Monsoon" about 20 minutes into their set and that made me respect them some, but then they lost all respect when they came out for a second encore. Especially when it was for the German language version of "Monsoon," which all the girls in the audience were still able to sing along with. But I will say this, the best part of the show was that it was over by 9pm. Loved that.
As I was watching the band and watching the audience watch the band, I was wondering if this is how it was when the Beatles first came to America. You had this older generation who didn't "get" what the girls were screaming about and going crazy for. Granted, there's no way I'd ever put Tokio Hotel in the same league as the Beatles, but there does seem to be a generation gap correlation. Not sure how long the fascination with Tokio Hotel will last as it seems their audience is always about that next big thing. But hopefully they're enjoying their time in the sun, even if most people still won't know who they are.