Bonnie and The Bang Bang @ Slim's 6/27/2014

After playing the first annual Not Dead Yet Fest, a small festival supporting of the SF music scene, Bonnie and the Bang Bang were the headliners at Slim's on June 27th!

Bonnie and the Bang Bang @ Slim's 6/27/2014
Photo by: Marc Fong

Back in March Bonnie and the Bang Bang opened for The Sam Chase at Slim's and it was so exciting to be back there to see them headline a show about two months later! 

It was close to 11:00 when the projector screen rose and right from the beginning, it was easy to see that the band was stoked and ready rock on the Slim's stage once again.
 

Bonnie and the Bang Bang @ Slim's 6/27/2014
Photo by: Marc Fong

The set opened with a stripped down, acoustic introduction of "Simple Ships" with drummer Michael Pettett on back-up vocals alongside Jake Dineen before bearing their bones and giving way to their true garage rock sound. Their transition from un-plugged to fully charged was seamless and  the venue's acoustics accentuated the rawness of the band's quintessential rock ambiance. The guys couldn't have been more comfortable on stage, performing for their local fan-base, friends and family who in turn were rocking out almost as hard as the band was.

Bonnie and the Bang Bang @ Slim's 6/27/2014
Photo by: Marc Fong

The insanely explosive energy from guitarist Robby Cronholm is as entertaining and captivating as it is infectious. His antics invited those on stage, as well as those of us watching  to join the chaos as he paraded around, jamming with the bassist, jumping of the drum set and playing his guitar at a 180 degree angle his expression remained exuberant, never exhausted. Even more impressive was that none of it affected his solid performance. 

Bright eyed and bare-foot, front man Patrick Stiles' low-tempo vocals counteract his expressive, engaging stage presence and sounded as flawless as a garage rock singer can at Slim's. While the
collective energy on stage skyrocketed as the band got down with their nitty-gritty yet polished sound, the connection with the crowd grew stronger as the show went on.
 

Bonnie and the Bang Bang @ Slim's 6/27/2014
Photo by: Marc Fong

Bonnie and the Bang Bang @ Slim's 6/27/2014
Photo by: Marc Fong

At the end of the ten song set, which consisted of songs from their first album, The Dark Dream and their up-coming second album, Distance fans did not want it to be over. Sure enough, the native Bay Area band was welcomed back to the stage thanks to a wild roar of applause!
 

Bonnie and the Bang Bang @ Slim's 6/27/2014
Photo by: Marc Fong

First they laid down an awesome rendition of Miike Snow's "Animal", then their previous drummer came out of the crowd as Pettett and Cronholm threw down some vocals for the final song of the night, "Play Dead". Bonnie and the Bang Bang's headlining show at Slim's was a blast and the guys had a blast right up until the very end! I'm so happy I was there to share the experience with them.

They hopped in their band van after the show and made the trek down to LA to record new songs so keep your eyes and ears out for their sophomore album which should be out soon!
 

 Bonnie and the Bang Band set-list 6/27/2014
1: Simple Ships
2: Car Crash
3: Hungry Dog
4: Medicine Man
5: Pox America
6: Every New Love
7: Darlene
8: Rebellious
9: ReWrite
10: Matser Plan

Encore
Animal
Play Dead