Feel the burn

Boston's Sunburned Hand of the Man put on a good long set: Three "songs" (a woefully insufficient word to describe the musical excursions the band partakes in) that stretched out over about 90 minutes, with a few minutes for a break after the first two.
Part One: A slow percussive build, chicken-picking guitar.
Phase Two: An echoing guitar flameout that would have done Comets on Fire proud.
Part Three: Another more meditative piece that started out with an audience clapalong and featured some real silliness from the band (when they broke out the rubber snake, I laughed ... when they broke out the rubber chicken, I began to wonder: Just what kind of band is this anyway?!?).
There was an unexpected treat during this psychedelic strangeness: The Avante Gard's "stage" is in front of the window facing the street. As the show went on, prom nighters and delegates at a local political meeting (some kind of Liberal shindig) could be seen passing by. The looks on their faces as their minds and ears tried to grasp the goings-on were sidesplitting. One young woman passed by three times, with an ever-more-contorted expression of confusion each time.

Outside looking in - and believe me, the air conditioning was most appreciated ...



There was a fair amount of instrument switching in fact they switched over drummers during the second phase of their performance. Here they plan the switch.



Some windwork during the first tune.



Rocking out during the second movement.



The guitarist was feeling it.



The whole crazy bunch.



"I am a psychic vampire ... I predict you will not get hepatitis from smoking blood ... and we will have a very happy Valentine's Day." You heard it here first.



Look everyone, it's Jimi Hendrix!



And yet more group rocking out.



The really strange thing: The Russian channel playing behind us featured a greatest video hits package from Aqua and a Depeche Mode concert ... could anything be more incongruous? Well, perhaps when slapstick movie Rat Race came on.

• Show reminder: Harshey, BlackBall, BlackSheep and Last Voice Heard play Irene's. The Ladies and Gentlemen and The Red Arrows bring arty pop Zaphod's (at least the former do - no hint of what RA sound like). The Empiricals surf it up at The Dominion.
  
• Animal news: Speaking of The Dominion, word has it The Anti-Nowhere League will play there July 4.