Tel Aviv’s Monotonix put on an amazing show at the Comet on Friday. So good in fact that I was willing to drive up to Bellingham to see them play again, only this time the show was in a much different venue. All of the great music bars in Bellingham have shut down over the last couple years, leaving touring bands with few available places to have shows. Last night’s was held at the bar Cap Hansen’s, a small watering hole that can barely hold fifty people, and has no stage. Tables had to be moved out just so the bands could set up. The prospect of seeing Monotonix in a space like this was too good to be true.

Opening the show was my favorite band out of Bellingham, the insanely talented thrash proggers Cicadas. It broke my heart to see them play the Sunset for less than ten people earlier this month - kids in Seattle would lose their shit if they saw this band open up the right show. They don’t ever have that problem in their home city though, as they’ve made their name in Bellingham as the fastest, technically amazing rock band in town. As usual, their performance would have made any rock musician humble. And as a nice bonus, they closed their set with a sweet cover of Rainbow’s “A Light In the Black.”

Even if there were a stage in Cap Hansen’s, Monotonix wouldn’t have used it. Singer Ami Shalev spent most of the show running up and down the bar, diving on everyone’s heads or squirreling his way through the crowd. The bar was so crowded there wasn’t room for anyone to actually dance, just bob up and down in place. The owners of the bar laid down some ground rules with the band before letting them perform, specifically no fires and not to break bottles. A previous Monotonix show in Bellingham at the bar Chiribins left the place somewhat destroyed, and the owners of Caps were not eager to have that scene replayed. Lucky for everyone, the band doesn’t need to rely on destruction to give a good performance - their dancy garage rock can stand on its own. There wasn’t enough room to crowd surf the drummer, so instead he brought up part of his kit onto the bar to finish the set. The crowd screamed for one more song but the band was spent. Amazingly, nothing got broken. I can’t imagine this band ever playing a boring show. Whether it’s in an actual rock venue or a hole in the wall bar their set is a guaranteed great time.