Orgy
Fete Music Hall
Providence, RI
January 09, 2016

To kick off 2016, the Fête Music Hall in Providence got a visit from 90’s industrial rock band Orgy. Having recently released their first new music in over a decade, Orgy is on the Pop Killers tour, with support from Bobaflex and Death Valley High.

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Overwith

A handful of local bands opened the show, and I only caught the last of them, Overwith. These guys rocked the stage just as hard as any of the veteran musicians on the stage. Their set was mostly originals, however they did play a cover of “Crazy” by Seal, which was great, and definitely fit with the show tonight.

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Death Valley High

Described as “death disco,” Death Valley High played well, but ended up getting their set cut short. From the get go, I noticed that there was an excessive amount of fog being used on stage. Party way through their set, the smoke alarm was set off, and the venue had to evacuate. When we were finally let back in, most of their gear had already been removed from the stage.

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Bobaflex

Bobaflex is a band I remember hearing about being on Gigantour in 2005, but I had never seen them before tonight. Brothers Shaun and Marty McCoy both take a shot at being the frontman or being a guitar player. I found the band enjoyable, however the vocalist switch left me a little confused.

Obviously there are bands that work with multiple lead vocalists, KISS and the Beatles being two that immediately come to mind. Those bands would mix their set up with who sang leads throughout. Bobaflex, however, seemed to start with one of the brothers singing about half the set, then switching to the other for the rest. It felt a little weird, you get used to a band for half their set, then suddenly they switch and you’re seeing what almost feels like a new band. The first vocalist had a vibe in the style of Danzig, while the second almost felt like a hair metal singer, though much heavier.

Both singers were solid, and it was a great set, I just think the multiple singers would have seemed less jarring if they took turns. Guitar player Dave Tipple also took a crack at singing, with a cover of Simon and Garfunkle’s “Sounds of Silence.”

Setlist
Start A War
Chemical Valley
Mama (Don’t Take My Drugs Away)
I’m Glad You’re Dead
Never Coming Back
Dry Your Eyes
You Don’t Want To Know
A Spider in the Dark
Sound of Silence
Bury Me With My Guns On

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Orgy

In 2011, singer Jay Gordon decided to reboot Orgy with a new lineup. There was a lot of drama in the media that year between Gordon and co-founding guitarists Ryan Shuck and Amir Derakh. Most of that seems to have subsided now, and Gordon has been powering on with this new lineup, having released their first EP last year.

Orgy hit the stage with the title track from last year’s Talk Sick EP, before playing “Dissention,” off their debut album. This blend of old and new continued throughout the night, with over half of the Talk Sick EP being mixed in with material from their first two albums. Material from their 2004 album, Punk Statik Paranoia, however, was completely absent from the setlist.

All the major singles you expected to here were in the set, with the grand finale consisting of their two biggest hits, “Stitches” and their cover of New Order’s “Blue Monday.” During “Blue Monday,” Jay got down into the crowd and held the microphone around to all the audience members to let them see the song. While fun for the people who got to sing, I’m sure there’s people who really only know that song from their catalog, and then to not hear Jay sing it could be disappointing. Towards the end of the song, members of Death Valley High got on stage to sing it with them.

I didn’t know what to expect of the band tonight. A band with a couple of hits in the late 90s/early 2000s, with almost a completely different lineup doesn’t stand out as a show you expect to be great. I was pleasantly surprised, however, as Orgy really put on a great show tonight.

Setlist
Talk Sick
Dissention
Suck It
Come Back
Opticon
Fetisha
G Face
Fiction (Dreams In Digital)
Suckerface
Revival
Stitches
Blue Monday