Patrolled By Radar at Three Clubs, 4-24-14 Concert Review

Patrolled By Radar performing "Fast Life Slow Death"

Patrolled By Radar had their CD release show at Three Clubs in Hollywood Thursday night, celebrating the release of their excellent new album, Cool Your Jets. For those who got their early, the album played over the speakers before the first band. And it was well received. Patrons actually applauded after each track, something I’ve never seen done before.

The American Professionals, a good band from San Francisco, then opened the night. (I may post some photos from their set in a separate blog entry later.) Jay Souza, the lead singer of Patrolled By Radar, introduced them.

Patrolled By Radar took the stage a little before 10:30 p.m, and opened with “Fast Life Slow Death,” a song from an earlier release, Be Happy. The sound is good at this venue, and it’s easy to hear and understand all the lyrics, something that is important to me. They did a couple more from Be Happy – “New Fight Song” and “Widow Next Door” – before getting into the new material.

The first song of the night from Cool Your Jets was “Lost Cause,” which is essentially the CD’s title track. Jay Souza introduced it by saying, “This is a hit in New Jersey right now.” It's a really good song, and though I haven't heard it too many times, I found myself singing along. After all, "Anybody can sing/Sing hallelujah." They followed that with a very cool rendition of The Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody,” turning it into a good jam before the end. And then they played a couple of others from the new album – “Died With Money” and “Rally.” “Rally” is one of my favorite Patrolled By Radar songs, and I’m always happy to hear it.

They played a new song, “This Is Not The Blues” (Jay said that’s the working title). I was definitely into it. There’s a really cool moment on organ that leads into a short instrumental section. They then went into a great, high-energy rendition of “Thirty Days.” I’ve heard a lot of bands cover that song over the years, but I think the two best versions I’ve ever heard are by The Evangenitals and Patrolled By Radar.

Before going into “El Norte,” another track from Cool Your Jets, Jay said: “I feel silly saying this. I feel silly in general.” He then mentioned getting close to 1,000 “Likes” on Facebook, and urged folks to click that button. The band then wrapped up the set with a cover of Randy Newman’s “Ghosts,” which is the closing track on Cool Your Jets.

Set List

1. Fast Life Slow Death
2. New Fight Song
3. Widow Next Door
4. Lost Cause
5. To Love Somebody
6. Died With Money
7. Rally
8. This Is Not The Blues
9. Thirty Days
10. El Norte
11. Ghosts 

There was no encore, though the crowd clearly wanted one.

"Widow Next Door"

"Lost Cause"

"Lost Cause"

Patrolled By Radar performing "Rally"

"Ghosts"