Electric Six
w/ gun shaped girl
Rosemount Hotel
Thursday, March 12 2026
Never a collective to shy away from bombast and theatrics, ranging from fires in the disco through to literal nuclear war—the latter so hot right now—Detroit glam rock provocateurs Electric Six kicked off their Greatest Hits Tour at the Rosemount Hotel, the third time in four years they had graced the intimate venue. With sixteen full studio albums released since 2003, the band had a plethora of material to select from to engage and entertain their dedicated audience.
Local group girl shaped gun, who also supported their headliners two years ago, began the evening with their earnest, millennial indiecore, while also encompassing the alt-guitar stylings of eighties college radio. At times akin to Angus and Julia Stone, at other moments more B-52s or White Stripes, gsg showcased an impressive repertoire of original compositions that will hold them in good stead as their career progresses.
After a short interval filled with barnstorming disco classics, Electric Six strode onto the stage. Or perhaps Electric Five tonight, as lead vocalist Dick Valentine explained they had somehow misplaced their keyboardist. Initially taken as a mere comedy bit to start the performance with highly relatable content, Synthesiser, no further explanation was forthcoming, and over the evening the other instruments pulled together to cover any gap.
After Valentine paid tribute to the Rosemount as the most comfortable venue in the country—“like an old pair of shoes”—the band pivoted to another old familiar, written twenty years ago, Rock and Roll Evacuation. As he took by now well-rehearsed shots at Dick Cheney, Valentine joked that the band may likely claim political asylum at some point Down Under—the homeland was not doing particularly great.
Gay Bar exploded onto the stage earlier in the set than perhaps was anticipated. Even in the studio version, a piece full of frenetic energy, played live it was a volcanic eruption, viscerally punk and bracingly violent yet surrounded with love. The gathered heat, humidity, and intensity from both the band and the audience added greatly to the immediate sense of spectacle.
Valentine advised that the record company had insisted on four songs from the most recent album, Turquoise, before the group were allowed deeper into their catalogue—yet, if that point had not been raised, the latest tracks would have folded easily in with the classics without note. The band’s songwriting skill and passion for the newer works appeared just as fiercely committed as those from the vault.
With their lyrics either wildly raunchy or mockingly self-aware, the banter between songs a series of boldly confident non-sequiturs, and the actual music ferociously intense, Electric Six are a group that refuses easy categorisation. Self-described as ‘musical cockroaches’ by Valentine, the band mixed camp, rock, disco, and more than a hint of Spinal Tap, all in the style of chronically online theatre kids. Moments and lines that hinted at some sort of existential depth (Window of Time) were often immediately undercut by the very next song with blatant references to sex acts (Panic! Panic!).
Tonight’s concert was a gritty, visceral experience that combined both a lightness of touch that ensured time flew by with a setlist absolutely stuffed to the gills with material. The devoted audience hung on every lyric and communed with the band in real time, with extensive two-way interaction even on the deeper cuts.
To expect the unexpected is such a cliché at this point, but to watch Electric Six in the flesh, with their energy levels constantly at eleven and their selection of material seemingly scattershot, with no grand theme in play from one song to the next, it seemed the only thing that held the entire show together was Valentine’s direct and oft-referenced memorisation of the schedule.
Somewhat baffling, often oddball, yet always exceedingly fun, may Electric Six’s rambunctious, semi-chaotic, and anarchic style never change.