POS champions local bands at First Avenue

Photos by Jon Behm

​"How do you like this weird-ass show?" P.O.S. laughed from the First Avenue stage Saturday night.Coming back into town for his first show since March, the man also known as Stefon Alexander explained that he chose the local bands that he was excited about, so the bill swung from the boom-bap of Prof and St. Paul Slim to the evangelical prog rock of Moonstone and the dancing glitches of Slapping Purses. It proved a stong lineup of local talent, although whether or not he had chosen the lineup, it was P.O.S.'s show and we were all just along for the ride. Click here for the complete slideshow by Jon Behm.

New band Moonstone, who just placed third in City Pages' annual Picked to Click music poll, opened the night with their Yes mixed with Anthrax sound, a roar powered by a guitar-driven five piece.  But Moonstone is no ordinary outlandish-looking band- they are a Lunerian parish who "serve the moon",  and so once the band got into its groove, the real show kicked in with the Reverend Micah Mackert shaking and exhorting the audience.  He prophesied about the ending of "First Earth" and made beat poetic pronouncements on topics fecund and astrological coming across like a Charlie Chaplin character.  It was great live theatre, totally absurdist, and felt a little inappropriate for the all ages audience, which made it even more fun.

After Moonstone's positive reception, the crowd ate up St. Paul Slim and Prof. Acclaimed for their Recession Music joint release that came out in April (on which P.O.S. cameod), the duo from the Stophouse crew worked the crowd into a frenzy with tunes like "Is This Mic On?" and "Everybody Down". Whereas P.O.S. pushes hip-hop through the punk hybridization, Slim and Prof traffic in the high powered boom-bap and braggadocio that established rap as a dominant force in the 90s, and seems to be alive and well still. Slim takes cues from Jay-Z, and not the multi-millionaire mogul we all sat through on The Blueprint 3, but the one for whom "it's about being hungry, live and never faking'" as he rapped in a fiery a capella rant in the middle of the set that was shining piece of MC technique.  After that, Slim ostensibly left the stage and Prof took over the show with his goofy grin and fight 'em or fuck 'em attitude. He was joined by Rahzwell who provided hype support for an extended version of the relationship drama "A Month from Now" that had everyone swaying and after spraying the audience with a couple more bottles of water, left the stage to roars.