Remember when boy bands were just, like, the biggest thing ever ohmygod? And the Backstreet Boys and *NSync would get up on stage, all facing away from the audience before the music began? And they’d dance around with flawless choreography while (allegedly) singing their songs?

Well, Monotonix is kind of the same thing, if you took away the hair gel and the daily showers. The band’s show seems to exist for the sole purpose of being an experience, being pure, balls to the wall entertainment. Music is second in line to antics, and that’s just peachy for these guys.

During their set, there was something resembling a drumbeat, usually. Not always, but who cares? There was a constant guitar noodling and soloing, evoking some sort of masturbatory ’80’s metal. There was singing, but again, who cares?

What mattered was the fact that all the band members were in the audience, spending much of their time surfing around on the crowd’s hands. A bass drum was inexplicably carried on top of the wave. At one point, a band member stood on top of said drum, high above the crowd, precariously balancing while sporting a dirty speedo. Why? Because why not. It’s an experience, yes, but it’s not quite a show, because a show implies that there was careful thought and planning put in. It’s spontaneous and messy, and even though the music itself was an afterthought at best, Monotonix easily brought along one of the most interesting performances of the day.

So I’m not going to bother with MP3s. Just see them live. That’s all you need.

More photos (read: insanity) after the jump.

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