When I first heard that the outrageously hip Darwin Deez was taking over Phoenix’s outrageously hip Valley Bar, I knew the concert could only have two outcomes: a steady and relaxing breeze of music, or the greatest explosion of music ever seen.
On Nov. 28, the show kicked off on the explosion route with a fantastic — and I emphasize fantastic — performance by opener Charly Bliss.
The grungy, female-fronted band was a burst of energy from the start. Lead vocalist Eva Hendricks jumped to the beat, so endlessly so that she eventually stated, “I have so much hair in my mouth.”
Hendricks, with her unique voice, continued to sing with such a lack of care for approval or grace that proved Charly Bliss is the perfect grunge band to see live. Paired with heavier instrumentals, as well as guitarist Spencer Fox’s powerful vocals at times, their music came out balanced and overwhelmingly pleasing to the ears.
Charly Bliss was genuine onstage, with Hendricks openly stating that a song was about her therapist, and that “Dairy Queen” was about someone breaking up with her on her birthday — despite the fact that she recently broke up with someone on their birthday, as well.
Though the entire band interacted with each other in entertaining ways, it was Hendricks who made their opening act extremely memorable. Onstage, she was a manic pixie dream girl trope come to life, and it made the quality of the performance limitless. She rocked facial expressions, screeches and even a scrunchie — who else can do that nowadays?
As the set ended with Charly Bliss’s performance of “Love Me,” the audience was jamming to the music and dancing along to the catchy tunes. Their performance had me addicted to the incredible song — even now, I cant’ stop listening to it.
Charly Bliss made the start of the show indescribably fun.
When the beloved, eccentric Darwin Deez opened with a dance routine, it was almost anticlimactic, despite the cheering from the audience. Compared to the never-ending energy of Charly Bliss’ set, the band’s typical short routine of mediocre moves wasn’t quite the breakout opening that I expected from the group of increasingly successful musicians.
Early songs in the set most notably included the band’s oldest and newest singles: “Constellations” and “Kill Your Attitude.” With virtually pitch-perfect vocals, the performances were innately impressive.
Following another dance routine — this time to a “Whip My Hair” remix — the headlining band gave their best performance of the night. Frontman Darwin Smith skillfully weaved through a wide range of notes as he flawlessly sang “The Mess She Made.”
As the performance gave way to a semi-impromptu guitar jam, Smith closed his eyes to truly feel the music that he and the band were creating — a sign of a wonderful, passionate artist.
Soon, the performance of fan favorite single “Radar Detector” filled the room with a classic song for singing along.
The band’s performance of “Redshift” offered the most exciting moment of Darwin Deez’s simple, enjoyable performance: Smith jamming out on his guitar while holding it behind his head.
Though the absence of the hit single “Bad Day” in the set obviously hinted at an encore, ending the show with the song was the best way to provide the audience with a memorable concert. Almost the entire audience knew the vengeful lyrics by heart, and did not require Smith’s singing as a guide.
While the room was definitely filled with Darwin Deez worshippers — one of which asked the band to play a full album twice for the encore — I couldn’t help my feeling that Charly Bliss stole the show. In a rare case, the opening band brought unexpected, quirky fun, whereas the majority of the headliner’s performance was entertaining, yet predictable.
After the concert, I witnessed two Darwin Deez fans exit Valley Bar, excitedly speaking about the band they previously never heard of (Charly Bliss), with little to say about the band they showed up for. That was how the night went, in my eyes: The headliners performed extremely well, but were no match for the level of spontaneity that opened the show.
It was unfortunate that Smith didn’t measure up to the uniqueness of his first name or his vegan-hippie soul, because this was not a concert for classics and steadiness. It was a show calling for a Charly Bliss-style explosion.
Contact the columnist at Emily.Liu@asu.edu
