1. Three shows, three vibes, one Ty. When I caught Ty Segall at FYF Fest last summer in LA, he was touring behind 2013’s folky Sleeper, and his set was appropriately seated and subdued. When he hit Vegas two months later, he got heavy and hypnotic, with psych-rock trio Fuzz. And Thursday night, back together with his old band—Mikal Cronin on bass, Charles Moothart on guitar and Emily Rose on drums—Segall went raucous and rough, slamming out songs from 2012’s noisy twin pillars Twins and Slaughterhouse at breakneck speed.
2. The LA-based rocker also debuted a handful of new songs, presumably from his next record. Those tunes, grouped together near the middle of the 65-minute show, split the difference between Fuzz and Slaughterhouse, downsizing the stoner-rock slabs of the former and presenting them with the face-smacking urgency of the latter.
3. New spots may abound Downtown, but there’s something comforting about a packed Beauty Bar patio. GM Ruben Rodriguez reported a crowd close to 400 strong, and it was peppered with members of local bands like Caravels, Rusty Maples, Twin Brother and Beta Bomb. Props to those running sound, who helped Segall’s vocals and guitar sail above the considerable clamor being produced by his bandmates.
4. Strangest moment of the night: Just as Segall was addressing a pair of newlyweds in the audience, a man in a leather jacket jumped onstage, grabbed the mic and began shouting at someone he said grabbed his keys in the moshpit. “Thanks for making it weird,” Segall deadpanned after the dude jumped down, before resuming his dedication to the just-married couple.
5. Playing the final show of their tour, Segall and his band let loose toward the finish, covering the Buzzcocks’ “Fast Cars” and then encoring with a medley of AC/DC material, including “Back in Black,” “Let There Be Rock” and “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.” Those fuzzed-out versions made sense, but the half-baked stab at Bad Company’s “Feel Like Making Love” did not. I’ll never miss a Ty show, but next time, maybe I’ll leave one song before it’s officially over.
