100 Monkeys at The Roxy

Holly has done it again! She has given us another account of her time at the 100 Monkeys show at The Roxy! Thanks Holly!

So, arriving at The Roxy was quite a treat, you have to pay for parking, unfortunately… but unlike The Viper Room, parking is cheaper. If you ever get the chance to visit this venue, you can valet park in their lot for $5-$7 depending on the time you arrive. Unlike other venues I’ve been to, they advertise with posters outside along the walls on Sunset Blvd. so any passerby may give a look-see.

Upon entering the bar, you pass a tiny “lounge-esque” area near the rest rooms and two open doors. One door leads straight to the bar, the other leads into the stage area. The venue itself is rather large, one of the larger venues I’ve seen them play at. Along the back of the venue, there’s an upstairs lounge area, seemed to be used as a “VIP” section, it was being blocked off by big, burly, body guard types lol This is where the friends and family of the bands were able to relax and have fun. I’m not sure if it was exclusively for such, but I didn’t bother to ask… felt it was none of my business.

The stage is perfect for the boys, it gives them enough room to move around, dance, and be silly… unlike The Viper Room stage, where they don’t have enough room to even fart (but we love The Viper Room ). Within the venue, it seemed to me they had a food and drink window, along with a large bar. I arrived broke, so I wasn’t able to buy anything, but they did have some pretty nice looking specials going on that night. The Absolute came on and rocked the stage, kicked ass, blew the roof off the joint… however you put it… I was happy.

If you haven’t heard of The Absolute, check them out on myspace at http://www.myspace.com/theabsolute and educate yourself.

The second band to come up was Lemon Sun Band and they kicked some hardcore booty, too. They have a similar sound to the boys and they added a nice touch to their show. A friend of theirs tap danced on a wooden box rigged with a microphone, she was the instrument. I was amazed at her mad tap dancing skills and give them props for rocking.

Finally, the boys came on stage. They were all rather well dressed, and G wasn’t wearing sneakers for once! They had family in town because of the holidays and I can imagine they wanted to look nice Jackson danced, Jerad rocked, G jumped, Ben pounded on the drums and Uncle was grinning ear to ear the whole night. They sang most of the songs off the album, Grape, and it was a breath of fresh air to actually hear some of the crowd finally singing along.

During the IMPROV segment, Jerad looked around the room, and unfortunately the room seemed somewhat out of it at the time he looked… but an adoring fan next to me shouted, “JERAD!” and he jumped on the chance for that. The look on Ben Johnson’s face was priceless. None the less, they sang a song about our dear Jerad Anderson and it was hilarious.  They ended the show with Keep Awake and Ben G threw a few picks out into the audience.

The boys never came back out for an encore, but Jerad came out and signed a few autographs and took a few pictures. All in all, it was an amazing show, the boys were full of energy and enthusiasm. They were surrounded by friends, fans, and family.