We Are Scientists at Casbah

 Rawk Shows   

I’m not a stranger to We Are Scientists’ shenanigans as I have seen them at HOB with Art Brut, at SOMA with Artic Monkeys and way back in the day at Casbah right a few months after their debut album came out. (I saw them at an Indy Jam or some other KBZT show too but I couldn’t find that post on my first try so whatevs.) I prepped myself for the show by listening to both their albums in heavy rotation for a few days so I was all geeked up for their show. Set list first:

We Are Scientists
Casbah San Diego
7/2/08

Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt
Chick Lit
This Scene Is Dead
Inaction
Impatience
Let’s See It
Cash Cow
Callbacks
That’s What Counts
After Hours
Textbook
Tonight
Dinosaurs
It’s A Hit
Lethal Enforcer
The Great Escape

(This differs from the planned set list as they skipped “Ghouls” and went straight into “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt”. I am guessing it was a time thing because their set change and sound check took f-o-r-e-v-e-r. They weren’t the only ones having technical difficulties - the batteries died on my camera so I took about 12 photos and only liked the one above.)

Okay, so the show was great. The first three songs - “Nobody Move”, “Chick Lit” and “The Scene is Dead” were really great songs to start with and set the tone for the whole show. There seemed to be a lot of fans that knew the words to “Nobody Move” and “Scene” - “Chick Lit” (my fave from the new album) had less of a sing along factor, but everyone was digging it.  The set list was great - they seemed to do two block songs of old and new - “Cash Cow” and “Callbacks” have always been great back to back and I also liked the back to back of “That’s What Counts” and “After Hours”. During “Textbook”, Keith left the stage and came out into the crowd and sang the entire song surrounded by everyone. Very nice. “Textbook” definitely slowed things down, but they were back on a high note with “It’s A Hit”. Instead of leaving and coming back out to do the two song “encore” of “Lethal Enforcer” and “The Great Escape”, Keith and Chris just told us there were two more and there you have it. (They were really cutting it close on time - when is the last time that they turned the stage lights off as a 10 minute warning for the band?)

A couple of notes - this was the first time I saw them with their new drummer, who I thought did really well. Also, I don’t ever remember them having an extra person to play the extra keys and guitar. But I thought that was a great additon. Keith is super fun to watch because he’s all over the place, plus he likes to talk. And the Keith-Chris banter is always fun. So yes, another great WAS show in San Diego. You really missed out if you weren’t there.