"As the footsteps grow louder I feel your shoelace caressing my neck."

Yeah, I need a camera with better red eye reduction.

Nevertheless, Apes and Androids killed last night at Mercury Lounge; it was the sold-out record release party for their debut album, Blood Moon. I was stuck back by the soundboard, which would have been fine if there hadn't been a constant stream of passers-by. But no matter, it was an enthralling show.

Long-time members of the FWYT family know I've been Apes and Androids a gaga since they played the Gothamist Movable Hype show back in the autumn of Aught Six. And the quintet just keeps getting better. Their live shows are always an epic theatrical meal: A febrile cadre of Freddy Mercurys meets Stonehenge meets Yes meets Metallica meets... Wham? Damn, that sounds dreadful.

They brought out some additional percussion at one  point; crowd surfing ensued. A really stellar show. I guess I don't have more to say than that. But Heart on a Stick was there; hopefully he'll take his fingers out of his dog's ass long enough to craft an incisive monograph about the concert.

I made it in time for Die Romantik too. My first time seeing them live. These guys are really, really good; spicy traces of reggae and 60s surf pop spike the swirling, French-cabaret pop. Nice music to sit and shut your eyes to, as I did, but you could dance to it if you're the kind of freak who gets his kicks from that sort of public display.

Also, the bartender at Mercury Lounge killed last night. A real Gary Busey type, but nice to normal people and openly contemptuous of tools who demanded he be their beer list reciting monkey when it's all meticulously listed on the chalkboard behind him. I like to think he used to be a stunt man and still gets lots of tail.

All this after seeing Fiona Shaw in Happy Days at BAM. More on that later, but above's a photo I fired off after the show before the no-nonsense usher pounced. Just moments earlier, Fiona was buried up to her neck in that mound stage center. A really potent, hypnotic production, with a well-deserved standing O for Shaw.  And the show contained the most spectacular fireball I've ever seen in my life. Actually, I guess it was the only fireball. Seriously: There is a massive fireball onstage during the performance.

Fiona Shaw, Fireballs and Apes and Androids all in one night? Oh, happy day.