7ftSicilians

SteveC

A long time ago, in the faraway land of Massachusetts, a younger Steve was obsessed with Local H, especially their 96′ album As Good As Dead…

While it deserves its own Ravioli Review, we’ll get right down to the live report. Let me regale you with another brave Thursday evening out in Spring Garden, where I experienced the euphoric bliss of my childhood… Local effing H. 

Pre Show Vibes

Ubered up to the venue since it was COLD AF in Philly this week, which was great because my driver rolled up with Kim Petras cranked to the max.

Warehouse on Watts is off Gerard on a pretty suspect, non-descript corner. To be honest, the only reason I knew where to go was due to the flannel-clad folks trying to bum cigs off other flannel-wearing patrons.

WOW is like if Johnny B’s and Silk City had a baby in hell watching Animal Planet that was kidnapped and raised by the alley mechanic. Anyways they have Miller Lite, and the sound tech was playing Hybrid Theory in its entirety before Local H blessed us on stage.

Double Trouble

So the premise of this tour is that Here Comes the Zoo turns 20, so Scott and the boys decided to provide us with a double feature. They kicked off the show by playing some acoustic deep cuts for about 45 minutes.

They hit up classics like All the Kids are Right and then eventually closed out with an awesome rendition of Eddie Vedder that the entire crowd joined in on.

A brief intermission and they graced us yet again on stage, but this time the amps were cranked and Scott was dressed in a gorilla suit.

If you’re not aware, the origins of Local H were a fourpiece that eventually wilted down to a twosome. Scott ended up modifying his guitars to incorporate a bass guitar pickup on the low E and A strings, with dedicated outputs to his double amp setup.

So not only does Scott cover vocals, but incorporates lead and bass duty, which creates a super saturated sound.

Anyways, the boys played through the entirety of Here Comes the Zoo as promised, it’s heavy, melodic, and grungy. Their stage presence is electric, these dudes rock so hard and their energy is unparalleled to bands I’ve seen that are half their age. It was a sight to behold for sure.

Scott blessed us with many a solo, but above is an example of the kind of performer he truly is.

Finishing up the album play through, they played about a 20 minute outro, which most of us mistakenly thought as the end of the show.

WRONG

They ended up playing a handful of additional classics like California Songs…

and Bound for the Floor, which they segued into 25 or 6 to 4, which was bonkers…

Then High-Fiving MF…

and they kept playing even after they turned the house lights on…which quickly turned back off.

Anyways, the moral of the story is that these guys really do put on an amazing show.

10 out of 10 / Nonna Approved