The thing I love about this blog is that it makes me go out to see bands I probably wouldnt normally think to see. Your Vegas is one of them, and Ludo is another. I probably never would’ve left my cozy apartment on a freezing night to see a rock show. God, another band playing apathetically for a bunch of bored scenesters… not how I want to spend my night.

So when I arrived at the venue and my name wasn’t on the list, I took it as kismet. But being the dedicated blogger that I am, I stood outside in the cold with my ear to the door (literally, i stood at outside with my ear to the door keeping notes). I heard the singer (i think, i couldnt see him) of Ludo say “If you’re existing and in this room, clap your hands!” and what sounded like a stadium started clapping enthusiastically, before a member shouted “I cant wait to make that my avatar.”

As I stood in the cold, one of my favorite security guards came out saying to a friend “Yo, this is a hot show tonight, yo I don’t think I can hear anymore!”

How I got inside and videos after the jump

And with that testimonial, I frantically tried every trick I could to get reception back on my Sidekick phone. Turn on/turn off. Oh man, I need to see this show. I begged the door girl to let me buy a ticket and insisted that she check the list again and again. When the reception finally came back, I emailed someone in the venue who put my name on the list and said “Ack! I’m not on the list! I’m outside. Help!” Turns out I was on the list. Go figure!

I finally made it in the venue and ran to the front of the stage to take a video so I could share the band with everyone else reading this. Here’s the videos:

“Broken Bride”:

“Love Me Dead”:

But then my buddy the security guard told me I couldn’t take videos so I put my lil camera away and went on to enjoy the show from the middle of the audience with some friends I ran into at the show. I turned around and saw people singing along to every word. All around me, they knew the words. Now, this is a crowd that could’ve been here just for the sold out Presidents of the United States of America show (yes, they were headlining and it was sold out). But they also could’ve been there for Ludo.

If there was a need for a middle ground between They Might Be Giants and Weezer that none of us knew about, St. Louis’ Ludo did, and they filled that void. Singer Andrew Volpe, with his slight stature and three piece suit could’ve looked like someone’s accountant brother on stage doing karaoke if it wasn’t for the wild look in his eyes that give off hints of theater training well paid off. That’s what’s missing these days in shows: the theatrics, and Andrew has those in spades. I could only stand there in envy as I watched him on stage, even as a non-performer, because I could only WISH I could have that sort of natural confidence and bravado.

Nearly equal to Andrew, without upstaging him, was keyboardist Tim Convy (who definitely was in another band before Ludo, but I can’t figure out which). A recent visit to his myspace page shows a slight Elvis fixation, which may account for his understanding of stage showmanship. He towered over his moog on stage, playing the perfect match to Andrew, appearing as the more serious of the two whose job it was to set up jokes.

Tim: “If you like our show tonight, you can buy our album. Or call your local radio or tv show…”
Andrew: “If you know a bear just call a bear its no big deal.”

And I could’ve sworn that Andrew actually yelled out “Fuck God” at one point, which answered my “are these guys jesus freaks or something? why are they so tight?”

Naturally, the need to film the show became even more over whelming and I grabbed my camera and started filming again, even though I was told not to. This time, I got kicked out, but before I was getting thrown out the door, I pulled my hat and glasses off my head and said “No dude! It’s me! The DJ girl you know!” The security guard then watched as I deleted the last video off my camera and let me back in.

Not wanting to miss anymore of the show, I put my camera away, but man do I wish that I could’ve filmed their epic performance of Faith No More’s Epic. SO GOOD.

Tags: Bowery Ballroom, ludo, nyc

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 11:04 am and is filed under Bowery Ballroom, Live Shows. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.