Lords of Acid Praga Khan, Genaside 2, at Lupo's, 2.20.00

I arrived at Lupo's bright and early at 5:00pm for sound check. I had scheduled an interview with Praga Khan (Maurice Engelen) who is touring the USA for the first time with his brainchild the Lords of Acid. The Lords are popular in the US, but not Europe. Praga Khan, the band and the man, are tremendously popular in Europe. Until now Praga Khan and Oliver Adams, who create the music for the Lords of Acid and Praga Khan have had to stay in Europe working.

Praga

They have many hits, and are regarded as great innovators. Now that Nikkie, the third of this holy trinity has left, Praga and Oliver are hitting the states for a sold out tour.

Sound check was a sonic affair. While waiting for my interview I got to listen to them do versions of "Lover" and "Rough Sex" with new singer Deborah Ostrega.

I really don't remember a lot about Nikkie from when I saw the Lords last time around in '97 at the Strand, so I won't try to compare her to Deborah. Deborah is strong and sexy on stage and she has a great voice. I was surprised that she wasn't like nine feet tall. From the photos on the LORDS website she seemed like a tall woman. She didn't have the "Barberrella" hairdo either, like on the web. It didn't matter though because even over the huge amounts of noise Praga was generating her voice stood out nice and clear.

Praga and Oliver add new sounds to the band. The beats seemed huge; I've never heard Lupo's so full of sound. It actually hurt not to have earplugs in during the sound check because the club was so empty.

Esther & Oliver

I was hanging out waiting and met a woman named Ester, the background singer, vocalist, and dancer for Praga Khan. She was really nice and we chatted about Amsterdam, where she is from, and some other crap. It was really funny because she was so nice and casual, hanging out with Steph, who is Genaside 2, and the rest of the folks that were there.

Two hours later she was in a pair of rubber hot pants and a pink shorty shirt writhing on the amp and singing. For sound check she did her number standing in the middle of the stage in jeans and a t-shirt. God belss her though she sings as good as she looks.

After sound check Genaside 2 did some spinning and it flowed for a long time.

I interviewed Praga and Oliver in the back of the Club and afterward they went away to prepare some stuff and do a bunch more interviews. There were like four of five other people there to interview them and they seemed to be willing to take some serious time with each guy.

As the door opened some of the best-dressed members of the audience were asked to join the band on stage. I got a photo of Cara and Roxy, from Burraville and Smithfield respectively. They looked pretty young and I asked them if they knew what to expect. They didn't so I explained some of the 'roles' people had been taking that I'd read about on the internet. Roxy seemed prepared. I don't think they made it on to stage during the show.

Poster Punk Pete also did another great poster for this show. It has a big girl on it looking might sexy- just right. Look for them on the phil-a-arts website. Support Pete, his stuff is good.

Praga and Oliver took the stage alone to open the evening with "Breakfast in Vegas." I really like this tune- it's kind of slow and they repeat "I smell the sweat on your skin- Breakfast in Vegas on cocaine and gin." People moved a bit, but nothing like when Ester came out and got them pumped up. They did awesome, huge versions of "Remove the Armor," and "Independence." "My Mind is My Enemy" really got people moving.

Praga Khan, the band got a great reaction, even though the house wasn't as full as the rest of the tour. They did a cool updated version of "Injected with a Poison" which is a "classic" that lots of people seemed to remember. The set rocked, and the extra speakers and lights that the band brought to Lupo's really made the night, it was loud and colorful like a good electronic alternative rock show should be.

Its funny the mix between dance and alternative that the Lords of Acid create. Their fans run the mix from dancing long haired kids with day-glow sticks spinning in the back, sexy dressed rubber pierced people, and of course the rock folks who like the guitar as much as the beat.

Lords of Acid: Deb & Praga

Everybody had enough space at this show to really have a good time. It was pretty crowded up front and through the middle, but there was enough space around the edges to be comfortable.

After changing up the stage we were ready for the Lords.

The staging wasn't elaborate at all. There were just some blow up doll aliens and one Hustler brand hanging on top of the speakers and drums, and that was it. Having Praga and Oliver on tour means that the band can concentrate more on the sound and let the show sort or make itself up.

The Lords set list went like this: "Most Wonderful," "Rubber Doll," "Do what you want to do," "The Power is Mine," "Let's Get High," "Take Control," "Lover," "Young Boys," "LSD=Truth," "Drink My Honey," "You Belong to Me," "Pussy," "I sit on Acid," "Crablouse," and for encores "Spank My Booty, " and Voodoo-U."

It was a hell of a set from beginning to end. Bass, Drums, and guitar were all live, while Praga played his keyboards in the corner to leave Deborah plenty of room to whip us (figuratively and literally) into a frenzy.

Praga is really a great beatmaster, he casually drops them on you but they linger around getting bigger and harder to resist. Having the live guitar and drums adds another level to the electronica and creates something bigger than just the beat. Even the preppy guys with girlfriends in jeans got caught up dancing. Once the sideshow got started you had to watch, and if you were going to watch you might as well shake some ass as well.

Deborah

The Lords beats might be hard to resist, but the sideshow is impossible to turn away from. Songs like "Young Boys" or "Pussy" call out for some inspired stage antics. For "Young Boys" Deborah got a couple of wet-behind-the-ear lads up there to slide up against and admire. They of course got into a contest to try to get her attention and were soon shirtless and pulling their best dance moves. For "Pussy" about 10 of the best-dressed locals got to strut their stuff and show what they got. All of these girls were dressed in about two hundred bucks of Miko's finest.

They too got into an unprovoked contest to try and impress the Lords and soon got into some naughty business. Girls in dog cages on leashes, guys getting spanked, hell they charge big bucks for that on cable, with the Lords of Acid you get the show and some excellent music to dance along with it.

Look for a new Praga Khan album this summer.

The new Lords of Acid album should be out this fall. Hopefully they'll tour again soon, because let's face it nobody wants to see the guy in Prodigy get spanked.