Bob Log III/Bebe and Serge

The task of getting Winnipeg music fans to forsake their apartments and go to a concert on a Monday night in February is an onerous one, akin to forcing a discontented polar bear up Mount Everest. Remarkably, the combination of Bob Log III and Bebe and Serge managed to overcome the city's winter idleness and attract a wildly enthusiastic audience. Bebe and Serge delivered an excellently anomalous set that caused jaws to drop with lightning speed. Serge, dressed like an S&M chauffeur, and Bebe, decked out like an unbalanced air stewardess, incorporated a leather whip, hammer and nails, along with other props, into their performance. Occasionally described as "surrealist karaoke," the duo sang strange cabaret songs overtop a pre-recorded CD. They augmented their show with absurd synchronised workout routines and frantic movements, ending with a superbly unhinged cover of Venom's "In League With Satan," which met with a boisterous response. Bob Log III followed, delivering a rabblerousing set that focused on songs from his last two collections of twisted blues, Trike and Log Bomb. In addition to the novelty of his distinct singing apparatus — a telephone mounted inside a motorcycle helmet — Log's one-man band status is consistently impressive. He demonstrated an undeniable dexterity, managing to simultaneously sing, play guitar and pound a kick-drum and cymbal, creating an untamed cacophony. Log's sexual compulsions were additionally on prominent display as he implored for a "boob scotch," referencing one of the tunes from Log Bomb, and coaxed two gals to sit on his lap while he stormed through School Bus's "I Want Your Shit On My Leg." From the first to the last note of his unruly show, Log reinvented the Delta blues with riotous skill, extracting charged feedback from the audience and disrupting the city's languor.