A weird night in Golden with Babylon AD

Something odd always seems to happen at the Buffalo Rose in Golden. It’s an off-the-beaten-path breeding ground for surreal moments and jaw-to-the-floor visuals. Like on Friday night, for example, an inebriated guy at the bar insisted on buying my drink because, and I quote, “I have to buy a drink for Conan O’Brien.” Me being English and a few years away from Conan’s age, I’m clearly not Mr. O’Brien. Also, the chances of O’Brien hanging out at a hard rock bar in Golden are slim, although DJ and TV host Eddie Trunk was there to sign copies of his latest book. You see? Weird.S

Let’s talk about the guy who, during the headliner’s set, was dancing all around the room (and I mean ALL over the room), rolling on his back to the music, duck-walking, and performing with air-microphone. You don’t see enough air-mic. Plenty of air guitar, but not enough air-vocals. I only hope said dude starts a trend.

This writer walked into the venue in time to see the last half of Australian band Dellacoma’s set, and it was plenty of fun. There were no songs that stuck in the head, but they put in quite a performance and the singer (who shares his name with the band) is a solid frontman with a good voice. Entertaining warm-up.

Babylon AD played almost everything that you’d want to hear from them, including an opening “Back in Babylon,” then “Hamer Swings Down,” “Bang Go the Bells,” “Maryanne,” “Take the Dog Off the Chain,” “So Savage the Heart,” and a closing “Sacrifice Your Love.”

Frontman Derek Davis looks and sounds great while the years roll on, and the band is still super-tight. The hair’s shorter – they’re not trying to recapture anything – but they rolled back the years on Friday, obviously having a great time.

But this all leads up to weird story number three. Apparently, this writer was the only person inside the Buffalo Rose who was in the dark about the story behind a great little song called “Psychedelic Sex Reaction” from the second Nothing Sacred album. When the band left the stage and then returned, I shouted out for the song, only to be greeted with dirty looks and lots of shusssssshhhhhes. I later learned that the band hates the song, and it was forced on them by their then-record label Arista. Damn – I felt like a criminal. Oh well – you live and learn.

You’re never gonna be bored at the Buffalo Rose when a hard rock band is in town.