66 –- The Protomen –- Saturday, April 24, 2010 -– The Red & The Black -– DC

Picture a steam room. Without the steam. Or the random old men. Now, most bands would not choose to hold a concert in a steam room -- nor would they don Power Ranger masks and channel Rammstein / Bonnie Tyler in the same show. Most bands are not, however, the Protomen.

The Protomen show was unquestionably the strangest show I've ever been to. It wasn't bad exactly, and it certainly wasn't boring; it was just strange. They would build and pound these ten-minute mood tracks ("Hope Rides Alone," "Light Up The Night"), and then they'd deliver a spirited, upbeat cover of "Total Eclipse of the Heart." It made no sense.

I would have liked to revel in this strangeness, as Andrew Schmadel and Mike Vance were able to do, but all I could really focus on was the temperature. The show was held in the attic of The Red & The Black, a 500-foot cubby hole with 100-degree heat. If I had gone sleeveless like the guitarist or shirtless like the drummer, I might have been able to get past the heat, but a long-sleeve sweater was not going to cut it.

Overall, I'm willing to give the band another chance; they were intriguingly odd. Next time they just need to perform somewhere that has A/C.








Grade: B-