Ever wanted to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at their most chaotic? Well, Karen O’s isolation performance of the band’s 2006 hit Phenomena is definitely up there.
The band traded in zoom for a fully immerse virtual experience, complete with fog machines, strobe lights, and Nick Zinner shredding on FaceTime.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are definitely trying to make heads roll with their hectic rendition of Phenomena. It’s an experience that can only be described as an early ’00s costume prom mixed with a sweaty rock gig.
Following the cancellation of many appearances across 2020, the band are certainly making the most of their time at home. The Instagram video opens with what appears to be Karen’s husband, director Barnaby Clay, instructing their five-year-old son Django to open the walk-in cupboard door with a highly professional “action, Django!” The unassuming white door opens, and madness ensues.
Covered in decorations that the McKinley High’s Prom Committee would froth over, we find Karen O crouched in the corner. With her pharaoh crown on and Zinner on standby in front of her, we know she means business.
“Friday night! Saturday night! Sunday night! Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. It’s all the same to me,” the frontwoman sings. Audiences can clock the occasional door slam in the background, presumably Django leaving his Mum to do her thing, or an odd hissing sound, which could easily be the resident closet fog machine.
As the song draws to a close, so too does the cupboard door. It’s one of the most ambient virtual performances we’ve seen yet.
Check out Karen’s closet jam below:
