The Automatic gave their Bowery Ballroom crowd a fresh burst of furious punk fury. Having played to the kids of America night after night on the first leg of the Warped Tour, the band was in top form and delivered an unstoppable set, memorable just as much for keyboardist/shouter Alex Penny’s maniacal stage antics as it was for the band’s seamless, fully-loaded performance. Since there’s no more Cooper Temple Clause, The Automatic have become, for me, a “semi-replacement” of sorts. They’re not only one of the UK’s top electro-rock acts, but they’re a band I find myself craving daily on my iPod.
There were more diehard Automatic fans in the crowd than you might think (since the band’s only played NYC once before, right after SXSW), including a handful who caused the bouncers minor aggravation, pogo’ing tirelessly to the point of almost bouncing themselves onto the stage multiple times. The crowd was indeed ready to jump on whatever The Automatic had up their sleeves, especially thrilled by the killer cover of Kanye West’s “Gold Digga”, with Penny taking charge as resident rapper and running amuck amidst the fans while singer/bassist Rob Hawkins stomped along to the shrill notes of, gasp!, his shiny flute. (I don’t think an American rock band could have gotten away with this).
Chart-topping hit “Monster” drove home harder and faster than it sounds on the band’s disc (though Penny was nowhere to be found at the time, causing guitarist James Frost to ask everyone if we knew where he went), and personal favorites like “Raoul” and jagged set-ender “Recover” proved even more brilliant live. A couple of songs before the finale, Penny shouts, “If my ankle doesn’t give out, we can finish the set”, but mere pain wasn’t enough to stop him from finding the highest speaker at stage right, climbing it, and jumping off onto the slippery stage below.
The set seemed cut short since the band never did manage to return for an encore; perhaps that abused ankle did give out after all. But as I’m sure these Welsh boys are aware, it’s always best to leave your audience wanting more.–MVW/photo by Tear-n Tan
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