Saint Motel’s Zombie Prom: Concert Review

Zombies? In February? Judging by the sunken-eyed,  torn-fleshed, blood-splotched crowd that lined the small stretch of Sunset Boulevard on Saturday night, it wasn’t too unreasonable to have assumed that Halloween came early this year. The 2nd Annual Zombie Prom with Saint Motel at The Roxy Theater, rather, served as a beacon of light in welcoming the undead for some  posthumous playtime. Game for nearly any invitation to get dolled up, the line stretched around the block with zombies dressed to impressed – taffeta, corsages and all.

The line-up for the night was a strong one: Links, Chasing Kings and Young the Giant delivered much more than the typical “break your eardrums/leave you senseless” fare. Interestingly, each band was more charming than the next – perhaps unintentionally? Perhaps they listened to their mothers? Who knows or cares; we swooned – and it was almost forgotten that we were taking on the role of undead for the night. Who ever heard of a zombie’s heart a-fluttering?

Soon we were visually accosted by three undead dancing girls, followed by the crowning of Prom King and Queen. In all fairness, a muscular, tatted Bride of Frankenstein accepted the title of King (not quite androgynous, but hurrah for gender-bending), and a vacant-expressioned, bloodyand’ gashed bobbed brunette accepted the title of Queen. There was no crowning dance, at least not then. The headlining act was about to come onstage, which would  inspire anyone within a 100-foot radius to shake what their mama gave ‘em.

Saint Motel knows how to push the foreplay to the point where it almost hurts; naturally, the volume of both band and audience rose with the curtain. Their intro bled into the apropos “Eat Your Heart Out”, and we’d be storytellers if we didn’t say the room was moving and singing in unison from start to “end”, to encore. Fan favorite “Do Everything Now” (and possibly the $5 drinks) inspired the most energetic movement this side of the hill – and then came the crazy string. When Saint Motel puts on a show, they put on a show, and half the time they probably don’t intend for it to go the way that it usually does. At nearly some point in the night – generally the encore – the stage becomes crowded with people and security gets involved. But no one gets dragged away; no one’s crying or being torn off of someone. It’s one of the many ways Saint Motel reciprocates the love from their fans, and so much that they’ve trained themselves to not miss a beat when the inevitable influx of bodies surges the stage.

Check out photos from the Zombie Prom below: