The Audio Perv

By Michel Dussack

Without a doubt, Sleigh Bells’ “Reign of Terror” has been one of the most anticipated albums of 2012, and after The New York Times streamed the whole album, it’s obvious that the wait was well worth it. On February 17th, just four days before the album drops (and the night before their appearance on Saturday Night Live), Sleigh Bells took to a very sold out Terminal 5 to play tracks from it as well as their debut album, “Treats”. Additionally, the show was the first show that Bowery Presents live streamed as part of their new program to get a more active online following. As great as the live stream was, I highly doubt they were able to fully capture the bone crushing, skull shattering sound that is a Sleigh Bells show.

After brief sets from Wet Witch and Black Bananas, Derek Miller and touring guitarist Jason Boyner stepped onto the stage to start what would become a fifty-five minute assault on the ears and the eyes. “True Shred Guitar” opened the show, and despite “Reign of Terror” not seeing a release outside of the aforementioned stream, it seemed fans were already familiar with the song. A few moments later, Alexis Krauss stepped out and ignited the already energetic crowd. The 15 song set was a perfect mix of nearly their entire first album with half a dozen newer tracks peppered in. Next up was the first single off “Reign of Terror”, “Born to Lose” and the dedication of the fans up front became truly apparent. The crowd new every word to the song and were more than happy to scream it back to Alexis every time she yelled “Come on”. Sleigh Bells have never been a band for frilly nonsense, and their simple black and white striped banner behind them was an effective back drop for their mountains of Marshall amps and army of strobe lights.

Before “Reign of Terror” was released, the band had commented that while it was nice to bludgeon their fans with sound for 30 minutes, they wanted to make an album that was easier on the ears. While the album is tamer compared to their first, it’s still loud as hell, especially live, compared to most other bands out there. Alexis seems more than confident as ever as a front woman and singer, commanding the crowd to move and sing along. If we simply call the new songs good, then we must comment on how amazing the old material was. Hits like “Kids” and “Riot Rhythm” truly shone and the entire floor of Terminal 5 erupted every time a hit was played, the crush from the surging crowd in the front seemed borderline intolerable. As one would expect, Sleigh Bells closed their main set with arguably their biggest song, “Infinity Guitars”, and quickly ran off stage for their encore break.

Alexis returned a little too quickly (I heard a fan after the show question whether or not they had an encore, indeed I only noticed they left because I was watching from a TV in the balcony at this point) by herself to sing “Rill Rill”. Not content with the distance between the crowd and the stage though, she quickly hopped into the photo pit to sing with her fans and then decided to take it one step further and crowd surf while she sang not once, but twice. “Demons” from “Reign of Terror” followed, and the band closed out the night with another massive hit “Crowd on the Ground”. When the band left the stage again, many in the crowd refused to believe the show was really over. By the time the house lights came on and the crew started to strip the stage, however, many started to reluctantly head out (some of which were not pleased with the 55 minute set the band put out). However, given the limited amount of material they have, as well as the massive energy levels of their shows, I’d argue that this length is about perfect for them. Indeed, it seems hard to imagine the band being able to rock as hard as they do for much longer, and certainly those in the thick of the crowd appreciated not being pummeled for 90 minutes. As the crew started breaking down the stage, Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” came on over the PA and the still packed Terminal 5 crowd immediately began screaming along every word and doing a bit more dancing before heading out onto the city streets, happy to have spent 55 minutes with one of the best musical duos out there.

Sleigh Bells’ setlist:
1. True Shred Guitar
2. Born to Lose
3. Riot Rhythm
4. A/B Machines
5. Kids
6. End of the Line
7. Comeback Kid
8. Tell ‘Em
9. Leader of the Pack
10. Straight A’s
11. Treats
12. Infinity Guitar

Encore
13. Rill Rill
14. Demons
15. Crown on the Ground