Electronica duo 100 Gecs have been steadily on the rise opening for artists like Brockhampton and My Chemical Romance in the past few years and the pandemic did little to slow their meteoric ascent to fame, with their viral-friendly sound locking into a generation raised indoors. Their latest record “10,000 Gecs” sees the band taking the expectations set from their debut album “1000 Gecs” and in a sense improving on their established sound and subverting what audiences have come to expect from them. On their massive “10000 gecs Tour 2” the combined powers of Laura Les and Dylan Brady brought the show to the Revolution Live sister venue Backyard.

Opening the show is Machine Girl, a Long Island-based duo of drummer Sean Kelly and singer/producer Matt Stephenson. Having garnered attention from a similar online fanbase, the band’s drum and bass sound evokes a noisier Y2K sound for the Gen Z crowd. Their instrumentals range from break beats a la “Adult Swim” commercials, to industrial rave with the massive, sludgy distortion of an International Noise Conference set. The raucous audience was matched one for one with Stephenson’s absolutely wild stage presence, as the young singer switched between a laptop, a bass guitar and while edging towards the audience in the first half of the show, leapt entirely into the crowd. Throughout the show Stephenson could be found surfing the crowds, singing from atop a bar at the back of the Backyard house with only a corded microphone that tethered them to the stage.

Machine Girl

The energy in the air was absolutely palpable as Laura Les and Dylan Brady jumped right into “Dumbest Girl Alive” from their latest record. Brady, clad in a yellow star shaped wizard hat and hoodie and Les, wearing a far more simple “Black Sabbath” vintage tee and black skinny jeans are both armed with only two wired microphones as Brady occasionally reaches for a Macbook atop a silver trash can. Despite having some of the most bombastic and energetic hyperpop in the game, 100 gecs are a surprisingly nonchalant duo on stage. Brady and Les hardly engage too much in banter beyond Les encouraging a moment to scream from the audience and Brady underscoring jokes with the Vine Boom Sound Effect. As a live act, the band crammed in nearly two records and several EPs worth of music, to the chagrin of some diehard fans near me they did not play “haunted” but they ripped through a slew of fan favorites like “ringtone” and “stupid horse.” One of the most striking aspects of the show is the visuals. Behind 100 Gecs is an LED wall screen that provided backdrops of everything from hyper-realistic teeth and horses to an artsy, Warholian live feed from GoPros mounted to the singers microphones and planted on various parts of the stage that projected the two back in saturated duotone colors to the audience.

100 Gecs

The dynamic of the two musicians boils down to Brady occasionally taking the vocal reigns between production work and sporadically slapping a noisy piece of sheet metal while Laura Les sings/talk-sings in an auto-tuned affectation, occasionally riffing some Van Halen-esque riffs. Some of the keys being lowered from the studio albums definitely brings a different vibe to their pre-pandemic hits but absolutely makes sense considering the massive tour docket the duo has and vocal perseverance is key. As a transgender woman performing in a state run by a…polarizing political figure, Laura Les took the moment to lead the crowd in a chant of “Fuck Ron Desantis” before launching into “The Most Wanted Person in the United States” which details the singer’s trials with anti-trans legislations and even the bathroom bills. While the band themselves semi-enthusiastically bounce between tracks, the audience is absolutely rabid for 100 gecs’ absolutely eclectic and high energy tracks. With their sound expanding on the second record, the band dabbles into a mixtape of genres ranging from new wave ska and heavy metal all with a veneer of electronic grime. As I scanned the audience for the blue 21+ wristbands, I saw few and far in the crowd, making me wonder how the band’s sound and show can evolve over time while featuring a primarily young fan base. 

Dumbest Girl Alive
757
stupid horse
Frog on the Floor
ringtone
fallen 4 Ü
Hollywood Baby
I Got My Tooth Removed
what’s that smell
The Most Wanted Person in the United States
Billy Knows Jamie
One Million Dollars
Doritos & Fritos
Torture Me
hand crushed by a mallet
money machine
mememe
800db cloud

Encore:

bloodstains

gec 2 Ü