The signs plastered all over the entrance to the Bijou Theatre didn't know what they were asking for. They simply read "ABSOLUTELY NO SMOKING ALLOWED IN THEATRE". However, someone obviously forgot to point this out to Soul Coughing, who burned the joint down on Wednesday night.
Playing to a full house in the antiquated venue, Soul Coughing showed why they are considered one of the top live bands around today. If you've never heard the music of Soul Coughing, well, I'm sorry. Soul Coughing is to music what a casserole is to the four food groups. To make Soul Coughing casserole, take elements of rap, hip-hop, jungle, surf guitar, pop, techno, beat poetry, and jazz, stir in a liberal amount of unbridled funk and fury, toss in a few chunks of potatoes, and bring it to a rolling boil.
Drawing equally from their two albums, Ruby Vroom and the newer Irresistible Bliss, the band was clearly in the groove. Opening the set with "Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago" and then heading directly into "White Girl", drummer Yuval Gabay set an early standard for the rest of the band, as he pounded out rigorous beats with ease. Upright bassist Sebastian Steinberg plunked along with with vigor, and sampling master M'ark De Gli Antoni sprinkled in abstract noises to fill in the gaps.
The real treat of seeing Soul Coughing live is watching front man M. Doughty. Though his appearance is borders on ghastly, his stage presence more than covers for any physical inadequacies. Doughty pranced around like a panther as the band played songs back to back to back, stopping only when De Gli Antoni's tape drive hiccuped during the sampled Raymond Scott intro to "Disseminated" and temporarily silenced everything. Seizing the moment, Gabay and Steinberg filled the lull with "Walk of the Baby Elephant" as Doughty danced in circles until De Gli Antoni's Syquest drive had recovered.
Reaching the end of the set, Soul Coughing played their trump card, their current hit single "Super Bon Bon". The frenzied crowd went to an even higher level. Doughty turned the chorus of "Move a-side and let the man go through" into a call and response with willing audience, as they eventually drowned out the band.
As the band sauntered off stage and the whipped crowd filed out, by looking into the stage light rig, a visible smoke cloud hovered - the result of an explosion of sound and vibe that left no one in the house untouched.
