Last night I finally made it out to Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa after years of intending to check it out. The draw? Vincent Gallo and his musical project RRIICCEE. I saw Gallo twice last year when he was touring with Sean Lennon, so although I didn’t know exactly what to expect from RRIICCEE (the band doesn’t record its music or allow photos or video during shows), I walked in with an open mind, expecting to enjoy whatever happened. Through most of the set, though, I was wondering what the bulk of the audience had been expecting and what the venue was thinking in the way it handled the crowd.

RRIICCEE doesn’t allow photos or video, as I said, and I knew this in advance because I’d been expressly asked not to shoot either for this review. Imagine my surprise, then, when it seemed that everyone in the crowd had a camera on them (or a camera phone) and spent the pre-show period shooting pictures. There were no signs posted anywhere forbidding this activity, and the venue had let everyone bring in their cameras, so the crowd had no reason to think this was inappropriate, but it seemed like a bad omen to me.

Sure enough, when the band took the stage a little after 10pm, an aggressive onslaught of audience photography kicked in, leading members of the band to quietly ask people not to shoot photos and finally for Gallo to ask the security guard at the foot of the stage to intervene… and aside from that one intervention, the security guard and the venue didn’t do anything to stop the photography. I can not understand why the people in the crowd didn’t respect the band’s wishes, though. What happens if Vincent Gallo comes across your poached photo online, obnoxious woman in front of me? Do you think he leaves a comment and wants to be your BFF?

Beyond the photography, the crowd was noisy and chatty through the entire set, sometimes raising their voices loud enough for the performers to hear. One of the especially rude gaggle of women in front of me who were hugging the stage before the band started and making their disinterest in the actual music known through their ceaseless chatter, said loudly that she thought it was the “sh**tiest f***ing show” she’d ever “f***ing been to,” about ten minutes before she finally abdicated her up-front position. Shortly afterwards, a guy behind me yelled, “Record your f***ing sh**, jerk!” To these people, I say: WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?

Look. Here I am the day after a terrific show, and the thing that I’m still hung up on is how the rude people around me negatively affected my ability to relax and enjoy myself for quite a while– partly because they were actually in my space, and partly because I felt so sensitive to what it must be like for the people on stage to be casting their pearls before swine. So enough griping. I feel like the audience police, and that’s not exactly what I was going for…

The music was terrific. Experimental and free-form with occasional movements to more cohesive songs. The performers were well in synch, playing off each other smoothly enough that I was able to lose myself in the looping and intertwining melodies they offered and the steady beats laced throughout. At one point, Gallo sat (as I’d seen him before, with his back to the audience), to sweetly croon “Moon River” into the mic. His voice is true and clear and quite beautiful.

More than the music, though, the major redemptive element for the evening was Gallo’s post-show move from the stage to the bar, where he warmly granted photo requests from fans and (as far as I could see) spoke kindly with everyone who approached him. My companion sought him out for a brief chat, and Gallo was so gracious that the tension I’d been carrying from the crowd’s behavior evaporated.

RRIICCEE is in San Francisco tonight, and they’ll be back in So Cal tomorrow for a Tuesday night show at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles. If you’re up for something a little different, I’d definitely recommend that you check it out. I’ll be there for a second helping. If you just want to see Vincent Gallo the movie star, though, and you’re not into experimental or ambient music, maybe you should just stay home.