Lobot, The Wards And Big Black Toe At The Monkey House Saturday 11/28/09

Words by Tim Lewis.

It was a Saturday night and I had to work late. No worries that night as with 4 bands on the bill I thought there was no chance I would miss the second (annual?) Lobot reunion.

I got out of work reasonably quick and caught a ride to Winooski and ran up to the Monkey and walked in to hear the Wards jamming hard. I settled in for a moment and wandered towards the band and let them rock me for a song before they called it a night. I did not see much but the wards are fun and their slightly smooth punk really got me going. It would have been cooler to see the whole set but I was pretty happy for what I was able to catch. Go see them any chance you get!

Mike had returned from Thanksgiving to attend the show so we hung out for a bit until the next band, Big Black Toe took the stage. They were a trio and began with a little Night Train and sounded pretty mediocre. I don’t always know why a band sounds off, but Mike said it was because the drummer kept going in and out of time. Anyway they didn’t do much for me. Their set was mercifully short and they ended with Rock and Roll Suicide that sort of fizzled before the wonderful part.

Next up Lobot took the stage. Usually a quartet, their bass player was having back issues so they started as a trio and dove furiously into the set. The first few songs were powerhouse glory and rocked hard and were tons of fun. The vocals were great, the playing fantastic and everyone was having fun. After 3 or 4 they brought up the replacement bassist for the night and I was pleasantly surprised that he slipped right into the groove and the rock kept on coming.

Everything was going great for a while when they decided to try a new song. It fell apart a ways in so they stopped and restarted. Disaster again struck so they abandoned it and went back to the classics. As soon as they did they were back in the groove and the rest of the evening sailed to rock and roll perfection.

It was a lot of effort to put in after a long day, but I’m so glad I did! Lobot Rock!

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.