Concert Review: Bigelf, Wednesday, February 25, at the Riot Room

In concert, Bigelf sounds a lot like its name — big. The first week of The Biggest Loser big. Stimulus plan big. Is there treble on this island big.

There couldn’t have been more than 50 people at the Bigelf performance at the Riot Room Wednesday night. No matter. Frontman Damon Fox wailed away, pounded on keyboads to his right and left, and sported an intrepid look fit for a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden.

If there’s a lesson to be learned from Bigelf’s Kansas City pitstop, it’s this: Hump day concerts can be sleepy affairs, even when the band performing is wide awake and ready to rock. After the first blaring song, the bassist muttered, “Fuck yeah.” By the end of the show, that was as riotous as the Riot Room got.

Fox, a deadringer for Rob Zombie, began by telling his small but faithful crowd that Kansas City was his favorite stop on tour thus far. A white lie from a very dark band. Bigelf, and its eardrum-crushing bass, boasts the occult feistiness of Black Sabbath with the psychedelia of Pink Floyd. They are a throwback to more adventuresome if not angrier days of rock music, but have also managed to create a forward-looking sound that can be loosely called their own. Their radio-unfriendly songs float along for upwards of 10 minutes; and Fox’s wispy vocals make occasional appearances throughout.