The Kooks & The Morning Benders@ House of Blues, Jesse Nova @ Bitter End 5.18.08

After returning from the Inland Empire and taking a nap, Daniel picked my up at my house on Sunday night to go with me to see The Kooks and The Morning Benders. He had forgotten his wallet, so we had to drive back to his house down south, but when we arrived at the House of Blues by 7:30, we thought we had made good time. He dropped me off to get the tickets while he parked, but by the time I got to the window, The Morning Benders started their set. They were supposed to start at 8, but pushed it up to 7:45. Then I hit snag number two...some publicists always give a plus one when they reach out to offer tickets. Apparently I hadn't read my e-mail and there was only one ticket and a photo pass waiting for me. Mierda. I called Dan and told him I'd meet him in the bar, ran downstairs and made it in time to take pictures during the third song before they cleared the photo pit.

This really bummed me out, because I love these guys and they sounded full on this stage. After that song, I met Daniel upstairs. I didn't really know what to do, I figured I'd hang with him, then take 3 songs worth of pics of The Kooks then we could take off. Fortunately I ran into the stage manager- he also promoted The Melvins show where I worked the merch booth, so I explained the predicament and he made arrangements and got us another ticket. We entered the venue and were still able to catch about 20 minutes of The Morning Benders. Also bonus, we bought a couple beers at $6 a pop, but I found $6 on the ground, so it wasn't as painful.
It was really cool that the band acknowledged the all ages crowd up in the balcony.
He said they'd be at the merch stand to meet people, but if the kids couldn't come down he said, "hang tight and we'll come up to you."


Between bands, we went back upstairs and hung out on the patio of the restaurant for a quick beer. We reentered the venue about 10 minutes before The Kooks started and the sold out crowd had packed in. I went up for photos and waited a few minutes, running into a couple friends who were up against the railing. Once the show started, it was high energy all the way through. I pretty much just kept my finger on my shutter button and snapped away as fast as my camera would allow.

They played a lot of stuff from their new album, Konk, but as the set went on, busted out the older stuff with plenty of crowd singalong moments. For being so young and so small in stature, this is a band with huge personality and tons of charisma onstage. I really enjoyed this show a ton and was glad everything worked out with the tickets, particularly because the entire tour is sold out. I especially liked the slower jams when they busted out the acoustic guitar. Unfortunately, I didn't get to take pics of that because it was after the third song. I also didn't keep track of the set list, but here are the pics of the show. I cannot wait to see these guys again, though I'm afraid they're destined for larger venues so I feel honored to have seen them in this relatively small venue.








I wouldn't normally hang out in downtown, but a friend of mine was playing at the Bitter End at 10:30, so we had time to drop by. Jesse Nova played a mix of originals and cover songs, with a voice like Edwin McCain. They played downstairs which was a really cool room, though I'm not sure why there was a cover for the music being that the band was already playing and the opening bands had already played. There were tables and stools set up around the room so we hung on the side until we saw Laura Jane was there and had a table and allowed us to join her. It was a mellow show and was a good close for a busy weekend.