"Kiosk" Concert review

“Kiosk”, is the first Iranian underground rock band outside of Iran.
This band is well-known for its biting critical, social and political, but humorous lyrics accompanied by rock music.

The lyrics and music are all written by “Arash Sobhani”, the lead vocalist, songwriter and guitarist, based on his personal experiences and his sociopolitical observations.
With the release of their third album, “Global Zoo”, KIOSK, has been launching their North American “Global Zoo” tour, and San Francisco was one of their stops.
The San Francisco concert was held at the “Mezzanine” club, on Friday, Nov.18.
The tickets were sold for $35 and there were also $55 tickets for the people who wanted to get access to the VIP lounge.
“Mezzanine” was big enough to contribute an adequate dancing space for almost 300 people. The high rise ceiling also offered the full amount of fresh air.
The club’s artistic lighting and its strong sound systems also made the place very articulate.
There was a bar close to the entrance that was surrounded by the people who were ordering drinks.
The VIP lounge was located at a corner of the main salon, several steps higher than the ground level and far from the stage. It also didn’t have any dancing space.
There were just some chairs at each corner of the VIP lounge, but the chairs were all at the blind spots, so if some one was seated, she or he wasn’t able to see any part of the stage.
Certainly, it was very disappointing to the VIP audience, who paid more for their tickets and most of them ended up coming down to the main salon, in order to order drinks, watch the band and dance with the music.
The show time was scheduled for 8:30 p.m. but the band showed up around 10 p.m. Therefore, the audience was already drunk and ready to mingle by the time the band showed up on the stage, I would say.
But there is something I need to point out, that being late is such a common behavior among Iranians, especially the artists, so no one in the crowd was upset or surprised, because of the two hours delay in the start up. Even some people, like us predicted this delay before hand, so we showed up for the concert around 9 p.m.
By the time the band came on the stage, they started their performance rightaway without any introductions, so during the first five minutes of the show, we were not really sure if that band was “Kiosk” or some local band that is just there to entertain the expecting audience and kill the time, or maybe this false asumption was just the effect of alcohol running in our blood!
The “Kiosk” performed the new album, “Global Zoo” including nine songs on that night, which are the following:
1- Ay Ay 1
2- Sirabi e Naft
3- Pragmatism e Eshghi
4- Agha! Nigah Dar
5- Kafsh
6- Livanha,Botriha,Galonha
7- Gerogangiri Dar Bagh e Vahsh
8- Chahrkesh e Pooch
9- Yarom Bia

Sobhani’s voice was very pleasant and comprehensible.
The lyrics were all social commentaries on a wide variety of issues affecting the daily lives of Iranians all over the world, that is why everyone could some how relate herself or himself to the songs.
The guitar player, Babak Khiavchi, and the drummer, Shahrouz Molaei, were also playing a great role in making the performance pleasant with their versatile playing instruments.
The volume of the music instruments were in harmony with the volume of Sobhani’s voice, so both the songs and the music were absolutely decipherable.
The casual lyrics in Sobhani’s conversational songs and also the unity between the performers and their instruments, created an affectionate era, full of energy and joy.
When the show ended, the cheerful audience applauded the band and asks for more songs, so the band performed the first song, Ay Ay, one more time; repeating one song of the album at the end of the show, as the audience demands, is also a common routine in each Iranian concert.
Audience was fully satisfied with the “Kiosk” performance. I could tell that by catching the smiles left on many faces when they were exiting the club.