LimeWire Music Blog

Though I am generally wary of reformed bands, I couldn’t help but attend Nitzer Ebb’s Friday night performance at the Gramercy Theater.  Not only is the NYC venue one of the best in town, a few YouTube clips and buzz from friends got me rather excited about the show. Though those live clips sounded great, they were only a teaser for what the band had in store.

Taking to a pitch-black stage, a pulsing electronic beat came over the PA speakers with commanding force. Now a three-piece—drummer Jason Payne and original members Bon Harris and Douglass McCarthy—the band kept most of their programming on a laptop (generally a no-no in my book), but kept spirits so high that it was easy to forgive. While McCarthy pranced around the stage, contorting, shouting, and pumping his fists, Harris kept the percussive end alive, kicking in electronic samples and various other bits of percussion with a few carefully calculated hits.

Otherwise, the set was generally full of crowd-pleasing EBM favorites, sprinkled with a dose of new material. Newer tracks (plucked from the upcoming release Industrial Complex) sounded promising, as intense and gut-wrenching as anything else in their catalog. However, it was the band’s classic material that made the crowd foam at the mouth, including the churning “Blood Money,” the bombastic “Lightning Man,” and the catchy, yet powerful “Let Your Body Learn.” They barreled through hit after hit after hit, and despite being too young to catch the band in their prime, Nitzer Ebb’s performance seemed as vital as ever.

Naturally, the band concluded their main set with “Join in the Chant,” arguably their most familiar and anthemic tunes. The crowd sang every word of the mantra-esque verses as fervently as McCarthy in an equal display of power, release, and devotion. The surrounding audience was so riled up, they continued the song’s refrain well into the band’s encore break, erupting into thunderous applause as the band returned for a pair of solid tracks. Though both “Getting Closer” and “I Give to You” failed to recapture the intensity of “Join in the Chant,” the show still felt complete; short, sweet, and unruly as sin.

Setlist:

1. Promises
2. Let Your Body Learn
3. Shame
4. Hearts and Minds
5. Once You Say
6. Lightning Man
7. Hit You Back
8. Blood Money
9. Payroll
10. Godhead
11. Ascend
12. Down On Your Knees
13. Murderous
14. Control I’m Here
15. Join in the Chant

Encore:

16. Getting Closer
17. I Give To You

Photos by Heather Sterman