King Khan and the Shrines at North Coast Music Festival

August 31st, 2012: As seen on Archive (PDF)

For a shit-kicking golden soul revival crew of the fantasmo kind, it was a damn shame that one freakshow festival dancer, the one with the rollerblade gear and 100-pound-wet frame, got to out-strutting the glory that is King Khan. Maybe the old gold-sequin schtick is wearing thin for Khan. Maybe the Shrines were just so on James-Brown-brass-section–point that Khan just looked like he was phoning it in. Whatever it was, the usually shirtless dynamo kept his roll slow, slinging the unabashed parlor yelps we all know, but not so much as stomping a heel. “Welfare Bread,” “I Wanna Be A Girl”  and other such sweet ramshackle numbers hit the PA, with Kahn not even trying to break a sweat. After some ridiculous kid in the crowd made an audible show about leaving after the first song to “go get fucking high on some fucking weed,” the crowd continually thinned thereafter. And there were, max, five claps for a new synth-heavy jam about a high-roller dubbed “The Luckiest Man” that well, you just don’t have a soul if you can’t dance to. So Khan-tastic, we forgive you.

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