The Slits + CMJ

The Slits have officially reunited, and on Wednesday night they played their first show in New York on over 20 years. Now this statement must be qualified, because of the original members only singer Ari Up and bassist Tessa Pollit remain in this reincarnation- and let me tell you, this is not the Slits of Cut or even the White Riot Tour of ’77. Ari and Tessa came onstage flanked by what seemed to be four female protégés (2 guitarist, 1 singer, 1 drummer) and a guy on keyboard. I guess I should have known it would go downhill when Ari didn’t start right in with an old number but instead spent fifteen minutes explaining how the Slits started the reggae-punk synthesis only to launch into a new song that sounded like neither. After that Ari Up stopped the set for 20 mins to argue with the sound guys about whether or not her mic monitor was working, proceeding to perform what sounded like a Jamaican vocal improve for five minutes which fell a bit flat on a crowd that was by now questioning why they hadn’t heard any Slits songs 40 mins into their set. As Ms. Up continued talking almost incoherently about how good the Slits were and why everyone should love them I realized it would be unfair to expect much out of this drug-addled brain. Ari and Co. finally played “Newtown” and “Shoplifting” to a smattering of applause but the audience was generally quiet , turning to each other in quizzical surprise as Ari went on another hazy tangent or stopped the show to question whether we could hear her vocals when we clearly could.

It was becoming more and more clear that this show would not yield anything good, and as Ari hauled onstage a girlfriend of hers (who’d had six too many screwdrivers) to sloppily sing backup I left. I could try to be positive about the performance and say that at least it was absurdly entertaining, but a tragic-comic monologue by Ari Up was not what I wanted. I came to see the Slits and they were nowhere to be found.

In other news: oldsters the Wrens save rock (again) and youngsters the Walkmen perform their first ever mediocre show. Both performed at NYU’s Skirball Center as part of CMJ last Thursday. The Wrens managed to make a sit down auditorium a good venue while inspiring the audience to jump onstage. The Walkmen did neither, but we’ll forgive them for mostly playing new material because we know they can rock out if they choose.