PART II
club entertainer from the Eisenhower '50s.
Or – perhaps more aptly – some long-lost,
time-traveling mainstay from Spandau
Ballet's post-New Romantic early '80s era.
Too Weird opens innocently enough, on the
heartbeat thump of "This is Gospel." And a
proceeding "Miss Jackson" (which originally sampled Fiona Apple's "Every Single
Night" until the singer refused to clear it) is
a stomping, soulful study that's still moderately paced. With track three, "The Vegas
Lights," however, the set turns defiantly
synth-pop and accelerates to a defiantly
dancefloor speed, as it percolates through
the Human League-ish "Girl That You
Love," a Flock of Seagulls-styled
"Girls/Girls/Boys," all while maintaining
that certain Pet Shop Boys, suit-and-tie
classiness. Mention this to Urie and he gets
excited. "I love it! I love the Pet Shop Boys!"
he barks, and then starts singing an
impromptu rendition of "West End Girls."
Even more than the artist's wife, a bigger character that figures into almost every
new Panic number is the band's old hometown of Las Vegas itself. In his youth, Urie
openly admits it – there was a lot of resentment there. Mainly because he was too
young to fully appreciate Sin City when
Fever catapulted the band into the stratosphere. "I mean, when we left we were 17
years old, so we had a bitter attitude," he
sighs, reflectively. "We didn't have the
opportunity to play any shows there
because you had to be 21 and over to play
any gig, because most of the venues were
in bars. So when we left, we were like
'What the hell?' We didn't really get to do
anything that we wanted to do.
"But I've been going back and forth
from L.A. to Las Vegas in the past couple of
years, and it was just a totally new city to
deal with for me. Having come back now,
and getting to participate in things and be
of age, you see the world in a different
light. So taking the time to experience those
things really changed the way I see it now.
I've always loved Vegas, but now I've
found the bloom of it, and it's amazing. I
spent a couple of weeks, just going to clubs,
doing stuff I never had done in the past." It
wasn't his scene, exactly, he confesses. "But
going there and seeing people dancing and
cutting loose? It was amazing. And that's
what influenced me to make the music that
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