Tahiti 80 Rock The Upstairs @ World Cafe (And Subsequently Fire Their Booking Agent)

Tahiti 80's last visit to Philly was @ The Khyber in November '02
(photo credit: www.bullette.net)

Let's get one thing straight from the start: after interviewing Tahiti 80 in '02 and giving their second album, Wallpaper for the Soul, a few extra listens, I quickly realized this band is too often (unfairly) dismissed as "just another French-pop band." That's the first thing you need to know.

Second, the only other Philly venue that could have been worse for this show than Upstairs @ The World Cafe would be the Kitchen @ The World Cafe (coming Summer '07). Tickets were $18 flipping dollars! In 2002, these guys didn't even sell out The Khyber on what were probably $8 or $10 tickets. I'm not pretending to be the smartest booking agent in the city, but money issues aside, this show belonged in a dirty club that holds no more than 200 people ready to dance their asses off. What type of person is content to watch Tahiti 80 from a dinner table? There are a ton of amazing venues in Philadelphia that can host great rock and/or dance shows (T.P.O. knows b/c we've been to all of them twice), so it's a real shame that Tahiti 80 ended up at the cleanest and most sterile venue in the city (on the bright side, they do have above-average acoustics). The point is that, unfortunately, someone pegged Tahiti 80 as "just another French-pop band" (yet again) and thought they'd be perfect to play in what is essentially an over-priced restaurant decorated like a Philly-hotel-bar-tryin'-to-look-like-an-NYC-hotel-bar, which by the way is perfectly suited for certain other kinds of live music. Booking Tahiti 80 to play this space was like booking a dog show to take place on a dirt bike course. Apples. Oranges. Et cetera. Exceddera. You see? There is a difference.

Despite this being a terrible episode of "When-Bad-Venues-Happen-to-Good-Bands," it was actually still a great performance. For this tour, Tahiti 80 effectively broke down their endearing blend of electro, dub, soul, and pop-rock and nearly stripped it to the bare minimum. Leaving us with a traditional guitar/bass/keyboards/drums rock show, the band played tracks spanning all three of their albums. Faves like "Mr Davies," "Soul Deep," "Big Day," "Changes," and "Here Comes" (complete with audience chanting the "Whoa oh oh" part) were excitedly played the same way you know they were written: with a simple arrangement, with smiling nods between band members, and without the dude from Fountains of Wayne suggesting that the snare drop out for 32 bars while a dub kick booms in replacement. Don't get me wrong, I think Tahiti 80's production sound typically strikes the perfect balance between unique and derivative. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant change to hear Tahiti 80 let go of their production-dependent style and be confident enough in their songwriting that they were willing to play without the 10 keyboards and 5 drum machines that they had for their last tour. Sure, maybe their touring budget was just reduced this time around because they only half-filled The Khyber in '02... but their songs still reflected the same beauty, tension, and sincerity that makes this band worth listening to in the first place. And that is a solid testament to the fact that Tahiti 80 is not "just another French-pop band."


Q: What did one Frenchman yell to the other while riding a rollercoaster?
A: Ouiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!