Café Eclectica Music: The Pipettes Played The Blender

Monday night I headed over to the Blender Theater at Gramercy for a breath of fresh air. Brit girl squad The Pipettes brought their 50's style tunes across the water for the third(?) time this year, but this was the first chance I really had to check out the dancing queens.

The night opened up with Monster Bobby, a fellow Brit with a good sense of humor and a unique sound. Monster is just a man - Robert Barry - and all of his stuff is solo acoustic, with the addition of some prerecorded digital backing. At first I wasn't loving it - it was hard for me to get into, and his tunes sounded a bit narrow. After adjusting to his songwriting style, though, I starting really liking it. What's so different about his style? He played about 20 songs in about 30 minutes. Apparently people have complained about the length of his songs, so he's going to write 40 one-minute song about bed and sleeping and call it 40 Winks. I'd say my three favorite tracks were "The Closest Experience to That of Being With You Is the Experience of Taking Drugs," "Afraid of Losing Face[book]," and a song currently coined "Say Fuck Me."

Next up was Jersey's Nicole Atkins. Wasn't too familiar with her either, but along with her band (The Sea), she made for an enjoyable opening act. The band played mostly songs off of Atkins' October release, Neptune City, and their brand of rock really kept me listening and wanting more. Some of my favorite tracks included "The Way It Is," "Party's Over" and "Kill The Headlights." I'll be taking a listen to the record and keep my ears open for more from Ms. Atkins.

The Pipettes charmed my pants off. The ladies have so much charisma, so much stage presence, and you just can't not like them. It was really refreshing to have such a different act on stage as they brought in melodies and instrumentations straight from the 50s, but managed to keep it current.

One certainty - you won't mistake a photo of them for any other current act.

The girls started off with "Dance and Boogie" and never turned back, making it their mission to get us straight laced Americans to move around and dance a bit. They even took a moment (or two) during their set to show us how to dance. A full discussion on how to dance like a Pipette can be found over at Brooklyn Vegan. The set was full of fun, full of laughter, and I think we all left feeling peppier than when we first came. It was, however, an extraordinarily short set - that's the nature of their songs, and they don't have a ton to pull from - they finished all their songs in about 50 minutes.

Personal highlights included realizing how attractive they are (especially that redhead. Love the redhead), "It Hurts To See You Dance So Well," and their last stretch, which included many of my favorites - especially "Judy," "Pull Shapes," and "ABC." I would easily go see this show again, no questions asked. If you're looking for a fun evening out, and they're coming to town, I encourage you to run out and check out these three sweet young things.

More photos here.

The Pipettes Setlist:
Dance and Boogie
Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me
Because It's Not Love (But It's Still a Feeling)
Baby Don't Leave Me
Tell Me What You Want
It Hurts To See You Dance So Well
Don't Forget Me
Guess Who Ran Off With the Milkman?
Your Love For Me
Why Did You Stay?
Sex
Diuretics
Really That Bad
I Love You
Judy
One Night Stand
Dirty Mind
Pull Shapes

We Are The Pipettes
ABC