Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Orto Bar / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 27.11.2008
Attendance: 70
Ticket price: €8.00
Go Betty Go, a four-piece from Los Angeles made up of three girls and one guy (read: a brand-new situation for what was, not long ago, a purebred all-female lineup), have landed on their first European tour. The ladies, Aixa Vilar (drums), Betty Cesneros (guitar) and Emily Wynne-Hughes (vocals), rounded out by bassist Phil Buckman, touched down in Europe, and in Slovenia specifically, three days before the Orto Bar show, when they set aside some time for the press at Che bar in Ljubljana on 24.11.2008! And just the next day the girls launched their first European concert invasion, which kicked off on the soil of our southern neighbor, Croatia (Zagreb, Pula). With the third date on the schedule, they landed back in Ljubljana.
The sharp ear of the plucky promoter from the agency and label Kurz Rock Vibe, who brought this up-and-coming American band over to us, also showed a great deal of open-mindedness when it came to the Go Betty Go show. For the opening slot they dug up, from Kočevje itself (a town that seems forever in hibernation and forgotten by God), the local ska/reggae veterans Sell Out, who until now had hardly had a chance to present their music anywhere outside the local scene, on stages around Slovenia.
The octet, thanks to their sheer numbers and beefy male build, could barely squeeze onto the stage, yet they looked remarkably disciplined, happily bouncing around to the sped-up ska beats while managing to dodge each other’s feet so nobody would accidentally step on anyone’s corns. Picture the tiny Orto Bar stage, which this time looked like a shoe-store window, set up for the free display of sneakers by Vans, Geox and Converse. What do you prefer, girls? Baggy or short men’s pants? A tie and a white shirt, or short patterned Bermuda shorts you could play chess on? The Three Feet Smaller look on Sell Out’s guitarist? Not bad either, keeping up with the trends.
But since the music is what matters, let’s focus on that. Sell Out served up a seductive take on reggae/ska/punk, a combination of rhythms that practically force you into general skanking, with a punchy horn section of trumpet, alto sax and trombone that in many ways dressed up the bare rock platform of the rest of the band, giving it a new level of quality, a new outfit and character. With simple but effective melodies, they made excellent use of the 40 minutes they were given to introduce themselves. It’s very important that the band writes its own original material. The solos came across as generic and gray, but the main goal was reached: getting Orto Bar vibrating with elevated kinetics. They especially fired people up with a nifty cover of Easy (Faith No More). That the guys’ set was no fluke was also proven by Go Betty Go singer Emily, who watched the youngsters play from below the stage and gave them hearty praise. The guys need to spit in their hands, roll up their sleeves and get their first studio release out as soon as possible, and above all land gigs all over Slovenia. That’s a nice forecast, proving that Kočevje is becoming a hot spot of Slovenia too!
Go Betty Go squeezed their set into an hour and 15 minutes of fun. Interestingly, there weren’t many people at Orto Bar, only somewhere between 60 and 70 heads, who at first watched everything on stage warily from a distance, more inclined to flirt with the bar counter,… And yet Go Betty Go won the crowd over to their side in a relatively short time. The bridge of communication that Emily built with her genuine, unpretentious contact worked incredibly well from the very first moment and cohesively pulled people to their side.
The girls and Phil caught fire in an instant, and Emily was the main stage target above all, because with her excellent commanding, at times bold, arrogant and angry singing, she came across as totally real. The band delivered exceptional tightness, a touch of spontaneity, great sound, in short, given their short time together, an outstanding level of professionalism and fairness toward the audience in their very approach. Besides her charisma and intense approach, Emily fired up the crowd especially after tossing off her plaid shirt and treating us to delicious views of her personal palette of tattoos.
The authentic punky rock attitude of catchy choruses and hungry rhythmic gallop left a huge mark. Imagine that spontaneous rock n’ roll energy, no calculations, just shooting on the first chance. People especially went wild for the two songs sung in Spanish, while the floor of Orto Bar’s upper level shook dangerously, and Go Betty Go proved how well they work as a unit on stage. That’s what happens when girls learn to handle dangerous toys. If you happened to miss the girls, you’ve got two more chances to catch them live. The first is already on 29.11.2008 in Idrija and the second the following day, 30.11.2008, in Maribor. Attractive, unpretentious, with the natural energy of rock n’ roll rumbling.
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist
Sell Out: 1. Sell Out 2. Sunny Day 3. Čas je 4. Swing 5. Huanita 6. Itas 7. B-pop 8. Easy 9. You Know 10. Raga Go Betty Go: 1. Go Away 2. Too Bad 3. Stand To Be 4. Am I To Blame 5. Saturday 6. City Lights 7. Wake Up 8. Opposite Way 9. It’s Not My Fault 10. Son Mis Locuras 11. I Am From L.A. 12. C’mon 13. Donde Voy 14. Worst Enemy —encore— 15. The Pirate Song
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