Erin BroadleyWe're three acts deep at the Roxy, sipping wine in the VIP area and waiting for headliner Chris “Cage” Palko to take the stage, as L.A.-based rapper Intuition wraps his set before the packed, all-ages crowd. We're also waiting for our pal (and L.A. Weekly guest columnist) David Faustino to arrive, who's running a tad late from a music studio session of his own. Suddenly a very familiar sitcom theme song comes blasting from the Roxy speakers.
“Love and marriage, love and marriage…”
The Married… With Children intro bounces along for a few more seconds before the lights go back up and Intuition launches into a song we'd never heard before, appropriately titled “Al Bundy.” Just then, Faustino — who famously played Bud Bundy — finally arrives.
This. Could. Get. Awkward?
Faustino stops half-way into the venue's main room after Intuition's refrain, “Hand in my waistband/So Al Bundy,” catches the actor by surprise. Faustino turns and looks at me quizzically.
“You set me up!” he laughs, and takes a seat at our table. This is the kind of shit you can't make up, or set up. Welcome to another Saturday night on the Sunset Strip, and it's only 10 PM.
A lot has changed since we last saw Cage in December '09 at House of Blues. On that tour he was opening for Less Than Jake, a seemingly odd pairing that was arranged via their respective agencies to “cross pollinate” their audiences. Then in February, just two months later, the New York rapper learned that his label, Definitive Jux, was going on hiatus after founder El-P announced he was stepping down as artistic director in order to concentrate on being a full-time artist and producer. Without the influential, indie hip-hop label's tour support, it looked like Cage would have to go it alone to continue promoting his latest album, Depart From Me.
Enter the Captain Bumout Tour. Cage and his DJ Chauncey are currently crisscrossing the country ride-or-die style in a van with openers Timmy Wiggins and Hate Your Guts. Saturday night at the Roxy, Cage and Chauncey played one of their best shows yet.
Credit: Cage (Erin Broadley)
Credit: DJ Chauncey (Erin Broadley)
Around 11 PM Cage and Chauncey finally took the stage. Good friends like Mikey Way of My Chemical Romance joined others in the VIP area. Out on the beer-slicked floor, young fans in Weathermen hoodies crammed themselves against speakers. One girl screamed, “I want to have your babies!” And everyone in the pit threw up Cardboard City hand signs (double Cs, like Chanel).
“L.A. is so horny,” Cage sneered into the mic, dressed in all black as he paced the stage. He eyed and teased the crowd, snapping his oversized mic cord behind him.
Credit: Cage (Erin Broadley)
For the next hour Chauncey decided the set list and Cage gave us the full treatment — a high octane mix of songs old and new from albums Movies for the Blind, Hell's Winter and Depart From Me, each delivered with the wide-eyed, limb-thrashing ferocity of an intensely physical performer.
Credit: Cage (Erin Broadley)
Credit: Cage (Erin Broadley)
One minute Cage would sing collapsed on stage, flat on his back, and the next he would whirl and lunge aggressively towards the crowd. During particularly tortured songs like “Stripes” and “Subtle Art of Breaking Up,” Cage mimed out graphic lyrics about physical abuse, drug use, sex and death. The crowd went nuts, worked into a frenzy of emotion and singing along to every word.
Credit: Cage (Erin Broadley)
The darker material was tempered by Cage's wink-of-an-eye sarcasm and Chauncey's infectious, razor-sharp quips in between songs. Before “Look at What You Did” Chauncey called out any “bloodsuckers” in the audience and asked how many had seen Twilight: Eclipse.
“Spoiler alert,” Chauncey announced proudly into his mic. “Edward gets caught in the woods eating Bram Stoker's shit.” And later there came his request for the head of actor Don Cheadle, who apparently Chauncey crossed paths with on Twitter.
After the show, artists and fans mingled in great spirits upstairs at On The Rox. Cage and Chauncey agreed that night's crowd was unreal and perhaps their best L.A. gig to date. But once last call hit everyone was dumped back out onto Sunset Boulevard, a ghost town at that hour except for bar flies, those women that try and sell roses to unsuspecting first-daters, and fans hoping to score one last autograph.
“I love L.A.,” Cage posted via Twitter following the show. And as we witnessed at the Roxy, L.A. definitely loves him back.
Credit: Chauncey with a fan after the show (Erin Broadley)
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.