Everybody Was In the French Resistance…Now! Takes The Fight To Schubas

Published May 11, 2010 at 8:30 p.m.

Having seen Art Brut in concert, we were aware of Argos’ tendency to veer off on self-aware tangents and work the crowd while his band noodles with their instruments; Everybody Was In The French Resistance…Now! barely attempted the conventional concert flow, seeming instead like a USO number with Valdès as the lovely-looking straightwoman to Argos’ joke-cracking wise guy. But along with the signature stage banter, Argos brought a hefty shot of Art Brut’s crashing, power-cord-laden style as well as its ability to make a pretty monstrous sound out of very few players.

And while gimmicky in its concept, Everybody Was In The French Resistance…Now! ultimately made the dynamic work, if not for the handful of genuinely catchy numbers like “Super Glue” (a response to Elastica’s “Vaseline”) and “Coal Digger” (the thinly-veiled send up of Kanye West’s “Gold Digger”) than for the sheer entertainment value in watching Argos give lengthy (and hilarious) explanations of each song.

Save the cluster of front-row diehards, the Schubas crowd didn’t seem entirely sold at times, prompting Argos—ever the showman—to climb down from the stage and sing among the fans. By the time the band neared the end with “Think Twice (It’s Not Alright)” segueing into a ribbing of U2s “With Or Without You,” event the holdouts in the audience began to loosen up. It was clear not everyone in the room took Everybody Was In The French Resistance…Now! seriously, but if you asked the band, they probably didn’t mean for you to, anyway...

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