Hear ye! Hear ye! Let it be known that Andrew W.K. concerts are not for the feint of heart, or for the easily bruised either.
     Andrew W.K., who has recently gained much fame for his unusually positive, enthusiastic metal music, including such songs as “Party Hard,” “She Is Beautiful,” and “We Want Fun,” (which was featured in the film “Jackass”) played for an enthusiastic crowd at Slim’s in San Francisco, on Nov. 12. Or perhaps enthusiastic is not the most accurate word to describe the audience. A better word would be “insane.”
     Musically, AWK’s backing band was practically, note for note perfect, and although AWK himself is not the best live singer (honestly, he sounds awful live), he more than makes up for it with personality and mid-air split kicks.
     I attended an Andrew W.K. show back in June, and greatly enjoyed myself, however I found myself too far from the stage to appreciate the show, and so my concert going companion and I decided to stand next to the stage the next time we would see him. Bad idea.
     The audience, composed of mostly teenage boys, was over exuberant, and for the entire duration of AWK’s set, spilled onto the stage to dance, pose, pour water onto AWK, or to stage dive back into the churning sea of people. AWK, being as positive as he is, was completely supportive of the festivities, and took part on several occasions. Of course, the only way onto the stage is to climb onto it or to climb on the people next to the stage to get there. Never have I been climbed and dived upon in my life, as I was then.
     I think I would have enjoyed the show more, however, had my concert going companion not been used as human step ladders for the length of the concert, accumulating a combined 20 bruises. I must admit, however, that finding over $20 on the venue’s floor after the concert was over, made the bruises hurt a little less.
     Overall, Andrew W.K. is definitely worth seeing. His shows are dynamic, exciting fun for most people. My only advice is that if you don’t want to go home to your mother looking like you got beat up by a roving pack of crowbar wielding football hooligans, I recommend standing closer to the back of the venue. Until then, party hard!