“It’s been so long,” Model/Actriz singer Cole Haden lamented to the packed house at Racket on Thursday night. This was the last night of the band’s tour, and their biggest hometown show by far to date, but he was talking about more than that. “Seven years! We played so many shows to 10 people.” The enthusiastic crowd, full of friends and family (including a few moms and dads), roared with applause.

The sold-out Racket show was also Model/Actriz’s first hometown performance since releasing their great debut album, Dogsbody, and their profile has clearly grown a lot since then. The crowd was ready to go with a swirling mass of dancers going pretty much the whole time. Much like at their set at our SXSW day party, Cole spent a lot of the show prowling through the crowd, getting up close and personal with folks, dropping wry, deadpan jokes (“we are the real indie sleaze you’ve been hearing about!”), as the rest of the band blasted out a manic beat against furnace-red lighting.

Dogsbody can be a relentless and dark, if danceable, listen, but Model/Actriz are way more fun live, as Cole’s theatrical stage presence brings equal parts charm and melodrama. The rest of band are great too, with drummer Ruben Radlauer hammering out precision 16th notes on the high hat like a drum machine, bassist Aaron Shapiro working the tuning pegs on his instrument for an unsettling, wobbly low end, and guitarist Jack Wetmore shaving off flinty atmospherics. Watching them on stage, everyone in Model/Actriz is unique and essential. Great show and their days of playing to 10 people are clearly over.

Opening the show was Brutus VIII, aka Jackson Katz, a one-man industrial/EBM machine, who was joined on stage by dancer Alena Henke who all but stole the show. Photos of the whole night by Amanda Hatfield are in this post.

Model/Actriz will head to the UK and Europe in May and all dates are listed below.

Model/Actriz – 2023 Tour Dates
May 25 – The Lexington – London, UK
May 26 – Future Yard – Birkenhead, UK
May 27 – Brockwell Park – Herne Hill, UK
May 29 – Botanique – Orangerie – Brussels, Belgium
May 30 – Roodkapje – Rotterdam, Netherlands
May 31 – KANTINE AM BERGHAIN – Berlin, Germany
Jun 02 – Uebel & Gefährlich – Hamburg, Germany
Jun 03 – Pumpehuset – Copenhagen, Denmark
Jun 05 – Paradiso – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Jun 07 – Stroomhuis – Eindhoven, Netherlands
Jun 08 – ROTONDES – Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Jun 09 – Pies Pala Pop Festival – Rennes, France
Jun 09 – L’International – Paris, France
Nov 02 – C2C Festival – Turin, Italy