Spending a Monday night with the Italian electro-house/dance-punk duo known as the Bloody Beetroots was a no-brainer. I've been dying to write about my experience at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood for months, because it's so rare to be blown away to the extent I was that night. I first saw them in Las Vegas at Electric Daisy Carnival the year before - theirs was one of the few sets that stuck with me despite the blur of that whole weekend, and one year later, these gents can still make minds explode with their crazy good musical talent and killer stage presence.
Earlier that night, I was exhausted from wrapping up Memorial Day weekend and literally had to drag myself out of bed just to get ready for the show. I'm ashamed to admit I even contemplated skipping it altogether. But let's be real - it's not every day you have tickets to see two of your favorite artists in the flesh, let alone have the chance to watch them glide across an intimate stage screaming their brains out...all the while looking effortlessly cool dressed in black from head to toe.
Their signature getup usually goes something like this: super tight pants, super tight t-shirt, and super tight leather jacket. Take this performance ensemble and then throw in their famous LED "Venom" masks (yeah, like the Marvel comics), and this is just one of the many reasons why they are total badasses.
I also really respect these guys because they play actual instruments (keyboard, guitar, bass and drums), and I personally think they've created a category for themselves unlike anyone else. Merging EDM with rock and roll is tricky, and they do it well. They produce some of the most original music I've ever seen or heard, which is why I pulled myself together, chugged a Red Bull or two at the venue, and snapped into Bloody Beetrootland the second they hit the stage - whether I wanted to or not.
The Bloody Beetroots definitely have a presence that commands your total attention. My friends and I were all so sucked into their energy, I don't think we said more than a few words to each other throughout the entire show, with the exception of exchanging several facial expressions (specifically super wide eyes) to get the "THIS IS SO SICK!" message across. Those two hours at The Fonda were definitely a roller coaster. If for one second I felt myself getting sleepy, the Bloody Beetroots wouldn't allow it. The music would take another sharp turn, and I'd instantly snap right back into the zone.
Lead member Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo is classically trained, which is why you'll catch yourself throwing down some of the hardest moves you didn't even know you owned to an actual symphony - a symphony that overpowers those intense beats pulsing underneath. They'll also string you along a dirty buildup that leaves you with an unexpected drop of rockabilly madness, and all of a sudden you question whether you're at a hard show in 2014 or lost at a sock hop in the 1950s. That one's called "Keep on Dancing", and that situation happened.
At one point I opened my eyes and totally caught my boyfriend thrashing his head around like a maniac. I can speak for all of us when I say, it's been a LONG time since we got lost in music like that.
Afterwards, as everybody was clearing out of The Fonda drenched in sweat and still a little breathless, it felt as if I had just taken a vacation from L.A. Now it was time to return to planet Earth. Those Italians sure know how to do it! Bloody Beetroots, thanks for that ride.
I'll leave you with one of my absolute favorites, the haunting "Chronicles of a Fallen Love" -
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