Last night I saw Vincent Gallo’s experimental music project RRIICCEE for the second time this week at the final show on their tour at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, and it was exactly what you might have hoped it would be: an elegant venue somehow scented like roses, a seated audience who listened nearly as attentively as they might have at a symphony, and a smattering of celebrities in the crowd.

I love to see multiple dates in the same tour of a band I like or find especially interesting. It’s fascinating how the venue and the audience affect the show, and it’s always fascinating to see the difference between the crowd at the home-town shows versus road shows. At home, the bands I’ve seen always seem more relaxed on stage. They know the audience is dotted with friends, and I imagine they’re excited to be near their own beds versus the tour bus or a motel/hotel. That was definitely the case here. Friendly faces throughout the crowd and a relaxed trio on stage.

The “set list,” as it were, was similar to that of the Detroit show. Gallo again crooned “Moon River,” and the three other times he took the mic were haunting and memorable in that way where I couldn’t sing you the songs now, but I will know them immediately if I hear them again. The lyrics and melodies were clear to me as I dropped off to sleep after the show and as I started waking up this morning, but I can’t recall them now. I just have the impression of them.. the lingering sense of how I felt when I was hearing them last night.

I spent so much time on the audience and the venue in my review of Sunday’s show that I want to take a moment to emphasize how great both were last night– I can not wait to get back to the El Rey. I think my complaining Monday inspired Karma to plant the only talkers in the crowd (literally) directly behind me, but even they were being chatty just because they were drunk and happy– not because they were intentionally disrespectful or because they didn’t like the show. The loudest of the three, in fact, was really interested in getting to know Gallo better… intimately. You understand what I mean. And the venue management had signs and an announcement regarding the no photography policy that led to people in the crowd telling each other to respect that rule. How relaxing to be in such a respectful room during a show like this.

Here’s a little info on RRIICCEE from the press release I received that I didn’t include in the first review:

RRIICCEE is a spontaneous collective between Gallo and other multi-instrumentalists, hand-picked by him, consisting of different members each tour. (This time it was Woody Jackson and Nico Turner.) On stage, they exhibit the creation of composition within a live performance.  For all appearances, the outfit does not perform pre-written music and is not limited to the boundaries of one specific musical genre. At the present time, RRIICCEE has no recorded music and has no plans on recording a commercial release.  

Gallo offered, “Improvisation is not a good word for what we’re doing.  It’s more a gesture of composing and performing at the same time, always hoping to avoid musical cliché or jamming.  We’ve chosen not to go into a studio in a traditional way like other bands have done in the past: to make recordings, cut them up, dub on them, fine tune and mix them, and then release them as an album, then later, go on tour, pantomiming those recordings over and over each night as a form of cabaret.  Instead, for a long time now, we’ve chosen to remain open, to grow and change more naturally, and when we play live, the music is often created during the performance.  If we choose to record a performance, the recording itself is only evidence of that creative moment.  The purpose of recording then, is to listen back for enjoyment.”

If you’ve never tried a Gallo or RRIICCEE show before and you get the feeling it might be for you, definitely do it.