The Orwells provide relief and release at The Gothic Theatre
April 4, 2017[slideshow_deploy id=’6526′]
photos by Michael McGrath, words by Amy McGrath
It’s hard to frame any of my current musical experiences outside of the madness that’s happening daily in our country. The Orwells show at the Gothic Theatre on March 22nd was no exception, and I landed at the show feeling irritated by the day’s terrible news, and very much in need of having my face rocked off.
Out of the gates, it didn’t look too promising- the band seemed grumpy too, and the new material from this year’s release, Terrible Human Beings, just didn’t connect at the top of the set. Fortunately, The Orwells singer Mario Cuomo is relentlessly compelling- he appeared onstage in a dapper white linen suit and tuxedo shirt- a deranged Jay Gatsby figure, countenance and conduct vacillating between cherub and demon.
It was the mid-set explosion of “Who Needs You,” one of the stand-out tracks from 2014’s Disgraceland, that really lit the crowd. “You better burn that flag, cuz it ain’t against the law!” howled Cuomo, and the mosh pit responded by unleashing an all-out, cathartic, Trump-era rage release. From that point on, the band and crowd were dialed in, and the Orwells rocked the Gothic in the brash, bratty fashion they’ve become known for. In the end, for one more night, rock and roll eclipsed despair, at least momentarily.