Review: Day 26 & J. Holiday at Club Nokia

Let The Professional begin with a disclaimer: As someone who makes her living in the music industry, its very difficult for her to "just watch" a live show. She can see, and she can hear every tiny problem--and she really just cannot sit back and enjoy a performance as a regular audience member. With that said, last night she caught the Day 26 / J. Holiday show at Club Nokia in Downtown Los Angeles...

Club Nokia is a beautiful new venue within the LA Live situational that encompasses the Staples Center, Nokia Theatre, and a host of other fly establishments, the best of which (Katsuya) hasn't even opened yet. Best of all, its walking distance -- that's 4.5 inch stiletto walking distance -- from The Professional's home. Yay for that!

Sunday evening's show was opened by local act and very cool dude Mateo (www.mateoonline.com). The Professional knows Mateo from the Los Angeles music scene, and was thrilled to hear that he'd be opening.

Mateo did a fantastic job, and The Professional was especially pleased at his "Blame it on the Alcohol" live remix. She thought it a very smart way to engage an audience who, for the most part, hadn't ever heard of him. Follow Mateo on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mateoonline

After an excruciatingly long set-change (40 minutes, are you serious?!), Day 26 got their show started. The Professional cannot front--Day 26 is her guilty pleasure, and she was kinda-a-little-bit-but-not-too-much pumped to see the boys. They appeared in ensembles of black and red wardrobe. Immediately, some issues. The Professional, for the entire show, could not wrap her head around her beloved Robert's outfit. Pictured here, you'll note the gay-Robin Hood theme, replete with skinny jeans tucked into his boots. Further, the rhinestone'd back pockets were just aboslutely too much. Points for individuality, but um... are we really still rockin the rhinestone pockets? Really?!

With track vocals WAY too high, and hot-mics WAY too low, the guys were still enjoyable until a energy-killing interlude where The Professional's two favorites, Brian and Robert, stopped the flow of the show with an obnoxious "screaming contest." Not necessary.

Some other notes:

• Throughout the set, it appeared that only about 50% of the records performed had been officially choreographed. The rest were a mish-mash of meandering around stage.
  

• Someone please pass Brian a message that big gaudy neck chains are OUT.

• Q: Half the audience wouldn't have known that you slipped & fell if you hadn't busted yourself out.
  

And finally...

• Thank the good Baby Jesus for Will's half-naked body.

The third act, J. Holiday would have been completely forgettable, had it not been for The Professional getting her ears (and her eyes) burnt up by his crass talk, innuendo, and exposed bird chest. Boy, you look BAD.

Its understood that the last act is the best place to be on a ticket--but in J. Holiday's case, he really should have taken the second spot. His 15 minutes are already over, and the majority of the crowd was there to see Day 26. The Professional recognized a total of ONE record: "Bed" -- which he honestly did sing his ass off to an excellent live instrumentation.


But besides that, it was his Music Director / Keys Player / Monitors Engineer / Pro-Tools Engineer / Deejay that got The Professional's respect. That mutherluver was WORKING!

J. Holiday ended his show with his white boxers hanging so low that a touch of booty-crack was showing. Annnnnd... SCENE!

Gross.


The Professional wants to believe that since this date was early on the tour's schedule, there are obvious kinks to work out. She hopes that Day 26 and J. Holiday's management has people that can address the issues and work them out like, immediately. If not, she is always available for counsel :-)