Alice Donut

at The Middle East Cafe
by Scott Hefflon
photo by Trevor Whitaker or James McVey

On the CD, the beefed-up crowd response sounds like Kiss Alive II. At the Middle East, the crowd response was immediate, in your face, and slammed in time to eccentric band. Start with a standard classic rock format, and replace the singer with a whining, snarling psycho in a custom trenchcoat rocking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth like a hyperactive mentally challenged child, then replace the guitarist(s) with deranged Angus Youngs that prefer noisy disturbances to meandering solos, strobe the shit out of the whole event, pour smoke over everything in sight, and there you have a description that makes no sense whatsoever. Much like the delicious chaos of seeing Alice Donut live.

The trombone lead in “War Pigs” in itself was worth the price of admission.