If you’ve been reading my posts on this blog, or listening to my podcast, you know I have a lot of favorite bands. I can’t help it, I can find a lot to love in a lot of different music. They really are all my favorite. I realize that takes away somewhat from the impact of what I’m about to say, but this is very true: the Hoodoo Gurus are special to me.

Yeah, I know, a lot of bands are special to me. But the Hoodoo Gurus are unique. Most bands, I love their music as a whole. I love individual songs, and I have songs that are my favorites among their catalogue. But the Hoodoo Gurus are different. Each song to me is like something new to marvel over. Each song takes on a life of it’s own. Each song has it’s own personality and reason to be loved.

The Gurus broke up several years ago, and I only ever saw them live once, on their Blow Your Cool album in the 80’s. It was one of the funnest shows I’ve ever been to. The Young Fresh Fellows, my favorite (*ahem*) local Seattle band, opened. It’s the only show I’ve gone to where I knew every single word to every single song that was played all night. And believe me, the Gurus know how to have fun.

I never thought I’d be able to see them again. You should’ve seen me jump out of my desk chair and cubicle when I overheard my boss telling an Australian co-worker that they were playing in L.A. (The Gurus are Australian.) I immediately bought tickets for both their L.A. show and their Anaheim show. I would’ve driven down to San Diego for that show too if it hadn’t been on a weeknight.

Los Angeles - El Rey Theater

I took my 15 year old daughter along with me to the L.A. show. We got there about 8:30 and hardly anyone was there, so we snagged a stage spot. I managed to get my camera in, too. We were set!

And they opened with the song my daughter most wanted to hear (one of the only ones she’s really familiar with), “I Want You Back.” The guitarist was throwing rock and roll poses all night, right in front of us. He’d come in front of the monitors occasionally, almost stepping on us, and my daughter thought it was the coolest. She even poked his leg once.

The LA show was awesome, but a couple things detracted from it for me. One, being against the stage like we were, we couldn’t hardly hear the vocals at all. (Didn’t stop me from singing along.) Two, I didn’t realize it at the time, but the crowd was not as into it as they could have been. Being right up front I don’t exactly notice what the crowd is doing. But the crowd at the Anaheim show blew the crowd in LA out of the water. Dave, the singer, even commented on it at one point. He said something about they play music for us, and we show our appreciation, or something, I really couldn’t hear almost anything he said all night. But that made the crowd perk up.

As did his call for requests. My shout for “Hayride” was drowned out in the big response from the crowd. Someone yelled “Quicksand” and that’s the one that stood out for Dave, probably because it’s one they hadn’t played in awhile. He said they’d try it out. But they ended up cutting it off before they were halfway through and launched into “Gene Hackman” instead.

Other highlights of the night for me were “In the Middle of the Land,” “Tojo” (which I was seriously not expecting and deliriously happy when I spotted it on the setlist), and “Come Anytime,” which I’ve been playing on repeat all week in my car! Also, the guitarist traded his guitar for a harmonica when they played “Poison Pen” and totally rocked it.

Still other highlights were “Bittersweet” (and it was!), “What’s My Scene,” “Miss Freelove,” “Like Wow - Wipe Out!” (I was so excited!) and they did “Kamikaze Pilot” as one of their encores.

Oh, and I heard that a member of Redd Kross, and one of the Bangles were there. (Some of the Bangles sang back up on their Blow Your Cool album.)

Anaheim - House of Blues

I went to this show on my own and gave my extra ticket to someone on the Hoodoo Gurus email list. We managed to meet up just before their set started, and in return for the ticket she gave me an awesome early singles four pack. I’d never seen it before. I have a similar thing of U2 singles I’ve owned since my teen years, and this will be just as prized.

I wasn’t sure what to expect of this show at all. I generally don’t like House of Blues venues. They don’t allow cameras. (All pics shown here are from the L.A. show.) I didn’t realize the venue was in Downtown Disney. Right in the middle of the whole Disneyland complex. So I had to wonder about the crowd. Were they mostly people there on vacation who decided to try out the House of Blues on a Friday night?

The answer is a big fat no. The entire crowd were hardcore fans. I stood towards the back this time so I could hear the vocals better, and managed to get a spot off to the side up a couple stairs where I could see over all the tall people’s heads. (I swear everyone there last night were giants.) All night people were singing along and dancing and shouting. It was awesome.

I have a lot of favorite Hoodoo Gurus songs. But there’s one that is even more special to me than the rest—ok a bunch are like that. But one in particular I’d actually forgotten entirely about, and they opened with it! “Dig It Up.” I love that the Gurus can take a serious topic and make it funny. “Dig It Up” is about a guy whose girlfriend has died, but he can’t accept it, so he’s going to dig her up. Because, you know, “you can’t bury love.”

They did another favorite, which I was hoping for but not expecting, “Death Defying.” Another funny song about death—the song is about some friends of the band who died of AIDS. And the chorus is full of “Ooooh wheeee”s. Dave mentioned he’s been fighting a chest infection, and he wasn’t sure if vocally he could pull the song off, but he gave it a go and no one cared if he struggled with some of the higher notes. Seriously, the crowd went crazy over it.

Next they did “Out That Door,” which Dave mentioned they hadn’t played much but kept getting requests for it. The crowd was ecstatic. I was ecstatic, too, and even more so over the next song, “Arthur,” another oldie I wasn’t expecting. (And again, another song about death!) Someone called out a request for a Persian Rugs song, and they played it. The Rugs are another Australian band that the Gurus are friends with. That was cool.

They did “Leilani” (!), “Axegrinder,” “I Want You Back,” so many great songs. When they broke into “What’s My Scene” the crowd went nuts.

The first encore song was “Quicksand,” and this time they managed the whole thing—and how! Another encore song was “Good Times,” and it seemed so fitting: “All the good times we’ve had, we’ll have again…”

They’re coming back in the fall for another, bigger tour. I can’t wait. Highly recommended that you check them out if they play your town. Just so much fun.

There are more pictures that I took, plus some video clips for download of the LA show, here:

http://qsysue.tagplazen.org/shows/hoodoogurus/03-28-07/