THERE'S NO LOVE WITHOUT ACTION

No, this isn't high-igh-igh-igh-igh.

So the Poison Control Center, 71 shows and 80-some days into their "Neverending Tour," made a triumphant return to central Iowa last night with a gig at the Des Moines Social Club. I've already said so much about how great I think they are that I didn't really know what I could add about last night's show, but Aaron Z. said he'd be looking forward to my Des Noise post, so here I am. Aaron was catching PCC and fellow locals-made-good Christopher the Conquered for the first time, and he said he had a blast. As you can (hopefully) see from the blurry iPhone photo above, he wasn't the only one. Social Club rented this big ol' PA setup, and they hired security guards and everything-- I guess they thought PCC fans are more dangerous than we actually are?-- so at first I wasn't really sure how everything would pan out. But Patrick, David, Devin, and Joe have really gotten tighter in their time on the road, and longtime drummer Donald-- he "writes the hits," as Patrick said at one point, and that includes first Sad Sour Future video selection "Being Gone"-- was no slouch on guitar and vocals, either. PCC were on friendly territory here, so they could play new songs and also some older stuff with their usual boundless energy and know there'd be plenty of people to shout along. "Friends in the Band" is the latest to get the DIY video treatment, and that made it an even sweeter moment live; "Magic Circle Symphony" got the usual fists-pumping crowd participation going. The highlight without a doubt had to be when they launched into "When the World Sleeps", the flip side of recent-ish non-album single "Give It a Try", as a finale, and the crowd-- having been to PCC shows before, apparently-- bumrushed the stage (security, thankfully, stayed out of the way) and proceeded to lift each member of the band on their collective shoulders, including the drums but not drummer David (apparently me and Ladd should've gone up there, too). I gotta admit I was a little nervous for Joe, though, who was crowd-surfing with a broken collarbone. Christopher the Conquered put on their usual really fun live set, though I suspect Chris saves his really big spectacles and surprises for special occasions so there was no monk-ish robe like at GDP or hidden microphone by the sound guy like at 80/35-- the band member with the suspenders and amazing dance moves, though, whose name I'm really embarrassed I don't know, did offer one little surprise: He used to be recognizable by his long hair, beard, and glasses but last night was all buzz-cut and clean-shaven (you ARE still the same guy, right? Nobody else can dance like that!). Oh and CTC did a new one, too, a slower song about "The Greatest Pop Record Ever Made" (did I get that right?), which suggests we can hope for another album from these guys before too long, maybe. Got there while the Atudes were playing, and they sounded good from what I heard, and Patrick had high praise for earlier openers Why Make Clocks (their "Revolver" is one of the best songs he's ever heard out of Iowa, he said! and it's a good un, a waltzing, organ-streaked slow burner) and the Seed of Something, too (speaking of the Seed of Something, another reason this show was special was because it was all-ages, which PCC shows at Vaudeville Mews generally aren't, so the Seed of Something guys and their friends were there dancing, too, and generally being livelier than we boring twenty- and thirtysomethings tend to be, which was great). Oh yeah and Patrick turned 30 today-- golden birthday. Hope it was a happy one, sir, and we'll see ya in Kansas City next month with Pavement.