dengue fever, from los angeles, play 60′s style cambodian pop. jen has wanted to see them for ages, i wasn’t that bothered but i don’t like missing out.

in the heart of downtown eastside, the rickshaw‘s reputation as a dive was unjustified. there are places in the north of england that would make the rickshaw appear sophisticated. also i wasn’t instantly mugged or dragged into a life of drugs and crime as i’d been led to believe – disappointing! as far as a night out goes, hastings area is cheap and interesting. i hear people saying that in 5 years the money will have poured in, condo’s will shoot up, wine bars will invade and it’s grungy, drug addled edge will have been pushed further afield. whether that’s good or bad i don’t know. i don’t think $200 mani-pedi’s and a starbucks in each hand is quite as fun as what exists in that area now.

dengue fever’s tiny cambodian singer chhom nimol has a powerful voice and her cute dancing often collided with their gigantic bass player as he paraded around the stage spraying everyone with sweat and hip-thrusts. their keyboard player showed influences of ray manzarek and altogether dengue fever were a much tighter, less contrived band than i had expected, having not listened to them much beforehand.

as this was the last night of their tour, secret chiefs 3 guested in part of dengue fever’s set.

it seemed like most people had come to see the first band, secret chiefs 3, which features ex-member of faith no more and mr bungle trey spruance. while they’re website and philiosophies read pretty interestingly, i’m not sure the music backs it up, sounding a bit samey. there was a nice violin solo that sounded like a tuned angle grinder, i liked that. i wasn’t that into the gothic robes and face masks. secret chiefs 3 had elements of system of a down and tortoise, obvious comparisons. i got the feeling they’d be better listened to in album form as live their set seemed rambling.

pizza slices followed by poutine on the way home rounded off the night nicely.