The Residents are not so much a band as they are a multimedia art group. Having been active since 1969, a large collection of music, art, and videos has been released under the name The Residents. The identity of the exact authors of these works is somewhat controversial, as members of the group have attempted to hide their identities. The core of the group seems to be comprised of four males. Their live performances are often theatrical productions that may involve elaborate visual effects or dancers, and a variety of artists have collaborated with the core members over the 40-some years of The Residents' existence. Musically, they have an incredibly diverse style, and have a penchant to mix more accessible American music styles with an experimental, avant-garde compositional approach. I would most readily compare them to Captain Beefheart or Frank Zappa, especially as they seem to have a sense of humor somewhat comparable to Zappa: both bizarre and disturbing.

Groups such as The Residents tend to have intense, I’ve-listened-to-every-album type fans, but I cannot be counted among them. I was always attracted to The Residents because of their obvious originality and creativity, but upon listening to their albums I found I merely respected their work, but did not find it aesthetically moving. I was curious to see them live because I believed - correctly, it turns out - that I might be into their overall spectacle more than their music.

The stage in Club Soda was set with a large blue couch with lacey doilies upon its top and arms, a night stand with a small television set and assorted knick-knacks (animal figurines and a plastic ginger-bread man), and three large hoops hanging high up from the ceiling, which seemed to contain paper upon which projections could be viewed. I was surprised when only three people came onstage. The singer, who called himself Chuck, was dressed as a peculiar looking old man. He wore a mask which gave him a pointed nose, a bulbous bald head and two jets of hair sticking outwards from the side, and he wore a striped house coat, a sleeveless undershirt, plaid boxers, long socks, and a huge, clown-like red tie with yellow polka dots. On either side were two identical looking seated persons, one on guitar and the other on laptop and keyboard. They wore ultra-glittery, red suit-jackets, ninja-like black bodysuits, cyber-punk style goggles, and dread-lock-like coils sticking out of their heads (again, kind of a cyber-punk look). After a few songs Chuck mentioned the absence of the fourth member, who had been a drummer apparently, and said that Carlos was still in their hearts (the other two were totally mute the entire performance by the way).

The performance was part of the Talking Light Tour; the main theme of the show, conceptually speaking, was ghosts, and the audience was regaled with a variety of ghost stories in-between songs, while the song lyrics themselves often related to the stories. Chuck told us, often somewhat humorously, of the Mirror People (people who you see in the mirror), claiming that they have tormented him for his whole life. At certain points he held a small, hand-held projector with which he projected the images of faces on the above-mentioned hoops. The first two faces were masked, and looked kind of elephant-man-ish, with weird lumps and spikes protruding from the face. The third face was of a woman nervously smoking a cigarette, and was distorted, as if reflected from a fun-house mirror. The faces told us disturbing stories of dead children, murderous sleepwalkers, and malevolent ghosts. Chuck also took on personas during songs, altering his voice with effects to sound like an old woman or a demon.

Musically it’s hard to describe the concert. Much of the sound coming out of the speakers seemed to be coming from the laptop, often with many ambient, Brian Eno-ish sounds. The guitarist preferred a trebly, digitally distorted tone, and his style sounded like Captain Beefheart meets 80s hair metal. Chuck tended to chant more than sing, and made up for his lack of vocal range with the afore-mentioned vocal effects, which allowed him to sing extremely high or low. At times the group had a demented circus / nursery rhyme sound, while at other points they had a more frantic, Primus-like, heavy-metal sound. But in general it’s pretty hard to describe The Residents because their style is so unique.

In terms of performance, the theatrical aspects dominated. The instrumentalists sat and barely moved, and their masked faces rendered them expressionless. Chuck had the most energy, dancing in a very funny, old-man-in-a-mosh pit way. The lighting was very dynamic, with lights sweeping out into the audience, or moving in coordinated patterns.

Overall I enjoyed the performance, and never lost interest. Musically, I can’t say that I like The Residents that much, at least not what I’ve heard so far, and not what I heard at that concert. I hated the guitarist’s tone, and thought the electronic sounds were, frankly, pretty cheesy sounding. Also, the band had very little energy, and it took the audience a while to warm up to them because of that. Chuck was trying, but the other two just seemed so dead. The audience did warm up though, and were extremely enthusiastic by the end, getting at least one encore out of the group. It was, however, the overall spectacle that I thought was the real strength of the performance. The stories were well-told and mesmerizing, and I enjoyed the scene created by the set, costumes and lighting. Even if you don’t like The Residents music aesthetically, it's more interesting then most bands can muster, and thus at least has that appeal. Also the music was appropriate for setting the mood for the stories being told, and thus made an important contribution to the overall spectacle. It’s somewhat like watching a movie where the music may have very little interest apart from how it connects with the images and dialogue, although I don’t think that’s what The Residents are going for. I give the concert 7 out of 10 baby corpses.