Review: Born Ruffians at Detroit Bar May 5, 2013

DJ Meow Mix, one of the hosts of Jelly Jive airing Friday's 12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m., recently saw Born Ruffians at Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa. Her show review and photos are below. For more from DJ Meow Mix visit http://jellyjiveradio.tumblr.com/.

 

I started the week off right by going to a Sunday show at Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa. Born Ruffians came all the way from Ontario, Canada for a U.S. tour to promote their new album “Birthmarks.” They sure did promote it by playing almost all of the songs off the album! But they still managed to fit in some older (essential Born Ruffians) songs because of an extremely long setlist – they played for over an hour which is rare for the shows I’m used to but was a nice treat. You could tell they are an experienced band because they brought their own custom light- up background decorations that were the same shape as what is on their new album cover.  It was great to see them at Detroit Bar because the venue is pretty small in an intimate setting. I think there were not as many people as I was expecting because they played two other Southern California shows in the days before – LA and San Diego – which I’m sure got big turn outs. The crowd was relatively mellow up until the middle of the show when they played their classic song “Hummingbird,” that was when the real fun began. Other crowd favorites were “Kurt Vonnegut” and two of the encore songs (after minutes of chants from the crowd to play more): “Foxes Mate for Life” and “I Need a Life.” I was happy with their song choices, but I must say I was really rooting for mine and DJ Cow in a Shoe Store’s absolute favorite song “This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life.”  It wasn’t included in the setlist but that’s just more incentive to see them next time they’re around in hopes of hearing that godly song.  It was nice to hear new songs as well, my favorite of them being their first single “Needle” from the new album. Overall it was a great show I am glad I got to attend.