The line at the Maritime Hotel snaked around the building for Going.com‘s official launch party at the Maritime’s trendy but slightly schizophrenic club, Hiro Ballroom. The thing that had the kids lined up hours before the event was to start was a free set by ex-Stroke-turned-frontman Albert Hammond Jr luckily we were able to get in without having to experience that crazy mess of a line.
We entered the near empty club to take in the ginormous disco ball and the sound check of the first band. Once they were done, the line started to move and began to trickle into the ballroom where fans
gunned for their ideal viewing spot of the show. While waiting for the band to take the stage, the kids continued to pour in while others who had been there chatted and bopped along to the mix playing on the sound system.
At 10:00 a black, white, gold, and glittered High Class Elite took the stage. The band members were wearing all black, the lead singer was in white and sported intense shimmery gold eye makeup, and the backup singers were decked out in American Apparel gold bodysuits and black leggings. Gold glitter was generously applied everywhere. Their set started off with a feverous cloud of rock ‘n’ roll and didn’t let up. Franco V, their Iggy Pop-esque lead singer reached into the crowd (literally) and serenaded them with a rockers howl. The band was one big ball of energy dominating every inch of the tiny stage while Franco was every bit the ringleader and would occasionally dive off stage to get closer with his fans. Their set ended with a bang and in the aftermath the stage looked like it was hit with a small natural disaster the mike chord was tangled around the fallen stand, the monitors were askew, and the stage was glistening with a layer of spilled water and sweat. The band thanked the crowd and packed up and then Albert Hammond Jr.’s crew began to get the stage ready for their set.
Once the stage was mopped down and reconfigured, Albert’s band stepped onstage and got into position. Meanwhile the crowd anxiously edged closer to the stage as nearly everyone in the packed venue was trying to get an optimal glimpse of the band. We were front and center and at times it felt like we were going to be crushed. With a leap and a bound, a lean bespectacled Albert Hammond Jr. took the stage and so began their 10 song journey. Throughout their set, the band played pretty much the whole album from The Strokes v 2.0 sounding “In My Room” to the bouncy, jangly “Bright Young Thing” to the lovely Beach Boys-meets-Shins-esque “In Transit” the band fluently showed off
their range. Albert was also ever the charming host to his fans toeing the line between sarcasm and self deprecation in his banter with the audience – he talked about feeling like Woody Alan with a guitar and how they had a lovely time with the opening band and the guytastic tips they swapped with one another – you could tell they were eating it up.
Well into the 7th or maybe the 8th song, we were tiring of being crushed like little bugs by the folks behind us so we decided we should peace out and let some other kids behind us have that fabulous spot we had smartly reserved earlier. As we shoved our way to the exit, we left with the band playing and a sizable crowd getting their AHJ fix.
