The Biblical Locks of Spiritual Bonerz

The hair bands of yesterday—Motley Crue, Poison, Whitesnake—ain’t got nothing on the biblically voluminous locks of [Devendra Banhart] and his posse of fabulously furry freak brothers, aka Spiritual Bonerz (at least for Thursday night's performance). Last night, Dev and the Bonerz took the stage of the soulless Manhattan Ballroom by light breeze, rather than by storm, slowly working their way out of their apparent naps and into what turned out to be a fairly rocking set. Though he started off sitting down, Banhart got into his groove as we closed in on midnight, getting some use out of his pretty red dancing shoes.

In what may have been one of the cooler moves of the night, Banhart asked if anyone in the crowd had written a song they would like to share. A dozen or so hands went up in the crowd of maybe 700. Banhart spotted a young lady—Dana from Ohio—and pulled her up on stage. Handing over his guitar and mike, Banhart left her alone. And in light of absolutely no preparation, Dana from Ohio pretty much ripped.

Spiritual Bonerz returned to the stage, this time with a little more umph, and closed the night with some old favorites. Banhart sang some Stevie Nicks, but writhed like a Venezuelan Jim Morrison. Although the stuffy New Yorker magazine dismissed Banhart this week as that “indie weirdo,” we think Banhart is a talented songwriter with a beautiful voice. And he makes skinny look good.