Dressed up in vintage shirts patterned with polka dots, flames, waves and octagons, tight red pants and glittery loafers, for their second night at FME, circa-1976 New York rock-and-roll lifers the Fleshtones injected the intimate space at Au Diable Rond with an intoxicating performance that put most performers in the prime of their youth to shame.
In a set celebrating the band's nearly 40-year career, they took every opportunity to make theirs a concert that wasn't a paint-by-number, just-play-the-hits (they don't really have any, anyway) march, but a parade of bottomless energy. Fully embracing the mobility of their wireless guitars, they were all jump kicks and antics, playing from the audience on several occasions, original singer Peter Zaremba checking the pulses of less animated audience members just to make sure. When it came time for "Push Up Man," bassist Ken Fox and founding guitarist Keith Streng surrendered their instruments to fans for a push-up contest on the bar floor. They capped it all off with an ecstatic Led Zeppelin medley that interwove the instrumentals of "Communication Breakdown," "Whole Lotta Love" and "Immigrant Song" that was patently ridiculous, and nobody could have brought themselves to ask for more.
In a set celebrating the band's nearly 40-year career, they took every opportunity to make theirs a concert that wasn't a paint-by-number, just-play-the-hits (they don't really have any, anyway) march, but a parade of bottomless energy. Fully embracing the mobility of their wireless guitars, they were all jump kicks and antics, playing from the audience on several occasions, original singer Peter Zaremba checking the pulses of less animated audience members just to make sure. When it came time for "Push Up Man," bassist Ken Fox and founding guitarist Keith Streng surrendered their instruments to fans for a push-up contest on the bar floor. They capped it all off with an ecstatic Led Zeppelin medley that interwove the instrumentals of "Communication Breakdown," "Whole Lotta Love" and "Immigrant Song" that was patently ridiculous, and nobody could have brought themselves to ask for more.