The first single culled from the group’s debut album, St. Elsewhere, “Crazy” has introduced Gnarls Barkley, a collaboration between producer Danger Mouse and vocalist Cee-Lo Green, to the masses without alienating the duo’s underground fan base, notably the heads who have been on board since Danger Mouse dropped his notorious Grey Album and Cee-Lo rocked the mic for Atlanta’s Goodie Mob.
Old-school fans and “Crazy” converts, alike, packed into Chicago’s Riviera Theater recently to witness Gnarls Barkley in the flesh. Hot off a well-received live turn at this year’s Lollapalooza, Danger Mouse, Cee-Lo and eleven backing musicians put on a solid and often joyous performance that transcended the cavernous theater’s sketchy acoustics.
Taking the stage in pajamas and bathrobes to the strains of the Romantics hit “Talking in Your Sleep,” the group played up its Parliament meets Oingo Boingo vibe by mixing sweaty funk with theatrical new wave, a combination that has worked well in the past for bands as diverse as Fishbone and Prince and the Revolution. Gnarls Barkley makes this musical cocktail its own, however, by sheer force of Green’s charisma and Danger Mouse’s laid-back control of the touring musicians, which include a string section (the all-female “G-strings”), 3 back-up singers, a drummer, a second keyboard player (Mouse also tickled the ivories from atop a riser), a guitarist and a bass player. All were in fine form at the Riv despite some less than stellar circumstances.
Sound problems inherent to the room meant that the band had a lot to overcome. Cee-Lo’s powerful vocals echoed off of the Riv’s crumbling walls and the string section sounded shrill more than once during the performance. Still, Gnarls Barkley was able to bring down the house with the Danny Elfman-esque “The Boogie Monster,” the gospel-inflected “St. Elsewhere,” a manic cover of the Violent Femmes chestnut “Gone Daddy Gone” and a cosmic, set-closing take on the unstoppable “Crazy.”
As danced-out bodies stumbled onto the concrete after the show, one sensed that the summer of 2006 will be remembered not just for a hit song, but for the thrilling live act that gave it breath.
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