The Chameleons @ The Knitting Factory

Hollywood, CA.   OCT. 22, 2002

The Chameleons’ show started off strong with a crowd filling an unknown maximum capacity room at the Knitting Factory.  I felt like I was at a Baby Boomer convention because I was surrounded by thirty-something-year-olds who were obviously pre break-up diehard fans. 

Okay, so The Chameleons have AGED, but their music was exactly the same.  And, they were better than Axl Rose's winded comeback!  “Isolation,” “Second Skin,” “In Shreds,” and the obligatory “Splitting In Two” were just some of the highlights from the hour and a half of bloody fantastic renditions, which also included a wonderful and rare appearance of “Tears” – a really overwhelming arrangement without drums.

The band’s newer material, while good, will never match the sheer classic qualities of their first three albums.  Smithies and Fielding have really rediscovered their stride and Lever’s drumming was as spectacular as it ever was.  Burgess, enjoying every minute, was cooler and more focused, but still managed the odd quip.

It may still be a reunion and I, for one, hope it doesn’t go on forever, but the night was never short of magnificent.  It was a real showcase to today’s listeners of what The Chameleons were about.   -R-Lo

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