Shaking it up with Wowser Bowser and Reptar

Here it is! The latest in my series of late show reviews of madly spectacular shows. See, the Critical Darlings weren't the only band I saw last Thursday. Not by far. After they rocked their return to the stage, I hightailed it to the Caledonia for some pure crazy in the form of Coco Rico, Wowser Bowser, Qurious, and Reptar.

Now I've seen Coco Rico before, but their (what could only be called a) mating dance never ceases to make me laugh. What ridiculousness! In this case, it totally set the scene for the rest of the night.

Then Wowser Bowser stepped onstage and stole the show. Seriously, they STOLE it! Even nearly a week later, I want to dance all over the place just thinking about them. In a whirl of paper confetti, they showered us with purely awesome tunes that were full of heavy drums and indescribable fun. You know when you hear something that just feels right? Wowser Bowser was one of those bands. Oh yeah! And I definitely wasn't the only one feeling it. Near the end of their set, the crowd flowed onstage to surround the band in what proved to be an epic display of fan love. Ah, I'm still basking in the moment!

Luckily, the rest of the night didn't disappoint either. Qurious, the next band up, donned masks a lá Of Montreal and gave us an eerily artsy performance beside a motionless, masked effigy. Whoa. I felt like I was in the midst of some sort of supernatural ritual. As they shared with us their ethereal tunes, something of a trance fell over the crowd, and they leaned and grabbed at the stage. All in all, it left me rather speechless. I think my pal Elizabeth may have summed it up best when she said that she felt like she " was swept up in some mystical ceremony invoking a feminist vagina god." Complete insanity, without a doubt.

And, to top it all off, there was Reptar. If you haven't heard of them yet, you will, believe me. Still rather new by even Athens' standards, they've taken the town by storm and gone so far as to perform at SXSW! Is it even possible to have this much of a following after one year? To appease their ravenous fans, many of whom had their faces covered in war paint for the occasion, they broke all the rules and played one of the longest sets ever. And you thought downtown closed at 2 AM. The party doesn't stop till Reptar says it does! They gave us a cover of Prince among their many dance-inducing original tunes, and the crowd went insane. Though no one could, to borrow another phrase from Elizabeth, "buy the hell out of their CD" because of some sort of failure on the part of the CD printing company, I'm sure the pre-orders were pouring in after that show!

Holy platypus, this lineup was outrageous. Oh Athens, I just can't get enough of you!