YEAH YEAH YEAHS
Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow
Universal
· A reputation-confirming DVD from the New York art-punk three-piece.
For fans of a band whose eccentric live shows most of us have heard about but never actually seen, the footage of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's on their first DVD, Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow, satisfies all curiosities. Filmed during a show at the Fillmore in San Francisco, the band performs songs from their 2001 self-titled EP and 2003 full-length release Fever to Tell, in addition to numerous non-album tracks.
More prominent than the music itself, though, is the attention-starved stage presence of frontwoman Karen O, which incorporates everything from her shoulder-shaking, chicken-legged stomp to her outlandish outfits (she performs the encore in a skin-tight silver bodysuit, complete with a hood and puffy sleeves, hips and ankles). Not to mention her more unexpected antics: spitting grapes at the audience, pouring a bag of jalapeno-flavoured chips on her head, as well as spray-painting herself. It's contrived, yes, but endearing nonetheless.
For proof, watch the pre-concert interviews with fans, which serve no purpose but to reinforce Karen O's iconographic status among young female hipsters who see her as a role model and the men who just plain think she's hot. Other bonus features include footage from the band's 2003 Japanese tour, a live performance at the MTV Movie Awards, and the band's four music videos – including "Pin," directed by friend and TV on the Radio member Tunde Adepimbe and "Y Control," directed by Spike Jonze and rarely aired due to its disturbing content (children dismembering each other, carrying around a dead golden retriever, etc.).
If anything, the DVD contains too much material that will likely be boring to anyone but the band’s dedicated followers. But for them, Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow is a dream come true.
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