Local boys Emery Byrd kicked off the night and sounded ...um, is it okay to say 'delicious' when describing music? It had been too long since I'd seen them play and I was happy to have arrived in time to catch their whole set.
Actually, I really didn't take many pics the whole night because the lighting just wasn't in my favor. Someone put deep blue gels over the two center lights that used to be yellow and they were kept low for most of the night.
LA's Mike Bloom was on after Emery Byrd and was having massive issues with the sound. The monitors were kicking in and out randomly. That was only slightly annoying to the crowd but really annoying to Mike. Eventually Jake fixed it, but I was getting impatient already because the set change between Emery Byrd and Mike Bloom was really long...over half an hour just for a dude with a guitar. First song into Mike and I was about ready to leave for the patio, but I stuck it out and actually ended up really enjoying his set...vocals brought to mind Jeff Buckley at times. I was up front most of the set until the very end and moved toward the bar where I realized that if you weren't within 6 feet of the stage, all you could hear was the noisy crowd chatting. Actually, chatting is an understatement...people were carrying on quite loudly. It really, really can be grating and I'm sure it was frustrating for Mike as well, so he's forgiven for the minor whining.
Finally Margot & The Nuclear So and Sos hit the stage. It was already after 11:30. I twittered that perhaps I didn't pick the right night to not drink. I was getting antsy. But they finally came onstage, all 8 of them and their 300 instruments and gave the crowd a great show. Jake was on sound, as he has been for their whole tour, but it was funny because the band would be playing in complete darkness before he remembered to up the lights again, too, something someone else usually does on the tour, so like I said, minimal pictures.
The band sounded amazing and dynamic. They mostly played material I was familiar with but threw in a couple new songs from their "maybe new album, that may be released in the fall, maybe by Sony". The crowd dug on their set, too, particularly the one girl singing on the top of her lungs to most of the songs who was standing 6 inches from my ear. Could've done without that, but the show was excellent and I was thoroughly entertained once again by the percussionist dancing, banging things, and make Blue Steele faces at the crowd.
Here are the pics:
After the set I didn't much feel like hanging around, so I bolted to get my head in check for the short work week. I'm hoping I'll have time to post about the National later tonight before the Swervedriver show, but I have to admit- I just got Troy Johnson's book Family Outing and I could barely put it down last night. I'm already half way through, so this weekend expect a review of that, too. Till then, have a great day.
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