Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Riviera Theatre (4/14/2006)

“Sometimes I think I’m bigger than the sound,” wailed Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as she sang in the heat of the band’s sold-out show at the Riviera Theatre. The front woman, dressed like a cross between a go-go dancer and a geisha girl, truly lived up to the lyric during “Cheated Hearts” as her voice carried throughout the theatre with power.

The band from Brooklyn, New York returned to Chicago for their second visit in two months behind their second album Show Your Bones. The hype that surrounded the band after their 2003 debut Fever To Tell has died down but in its place stands a level of credibility the band has rightly earned.

The band’s manic style on stage proved to make a clear connection with the crowd. Fans that packed the dance floor of the Riviera Theatre either jumped up and down in unison to the songs or tossed their bodies into each other, forming sporadic mosh pits during the show. For a show that only lasted an hour and twenty minutes (minus sets by two opening acts), the Yeah Yeah Yeahs never once took a wrong turn.

While Karen O embodied the physicality of the music, it was guitarist Nick Zinner and drummer Brian Chase that brought the cyclone of sound down onto the audience. From the outset, the band dove into their new album. “Turn Into” and “Way Out” set the hard-hitting tone of the night; “Fancy” brought a crushing Black Sabbath blow through Zinner’s chainsaw guitar riffs. The trio incorporated a multi-instrumentalist who played bass, acoustic guitar and keyboards to alleviate Zinner’s guitar duties, which created a much more realized sound and texture. But at the center of everything was Karen O.

Her confidence was as bright as the gold hot pants she strutted around in on stage. Men and women hung on her every move—if she jumped, they jumped; if she sang with venom, the crowd’s intensity would manifest itself into moshing. But through it all, Karen O had some fun, giving fans a quick wink or enticing by revealing her bra straps as a mini-strip tease.

The musicianship of the band continues to blossom, counterbalancing instruments like acoustic guitars and keyboards with their sonic arsenal, but it is the band’s raw touch where they gain much of their strength. “Gold Lion” swam like a great white shark on the hunt, ready to strike at any moment. When they weren’t in a complete frenzy, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs revealed their more reserved side to take a breath and slow matters down while maintaining an edge. After the fuzz jangle pop of “Dudley,” Karen O showed off more of her vocals with the soft, yearning “The Sweets.” The crowd may not have understood the message most of the time behind the band’s songs, but that didn’t seem to matter. Repetitive lyrical phrases are nice tricks to have in songs, but if the audience identifies the emotional push behind the songs, they will sing along with every note.

The band made quick work of their two encores. The audience roared as Chase played the opening drum parts to “Maps,” probably the best known hit by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. After “Black Tongue” tore up the stage, the band pulled another track from Fever To Tell, the hidden track “Poor Song” to close out the evening. The sheer abandonment the band performed with not only commanded the stage but the fans as well. It was that intangible that no one in the room could really put their fingers on but could definitely sense. This wasn’t a band trying to act the fool; this was a band that just wasn’t afraid. On this night, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs arrived and departed as everyone’s number one band.