The Heavy Love, The Modlins @ Ken Club 12.05.08

I am a huge fan of Motown, especially Jackson 5 and Stevie Wonder. So when I heard that Heavy Love was a local band covering a lot of old R&B and Motown tunes, my interest was definitely sparked. Last Friday was two doses of awesomeness, good food and good music. I got dinner at Urban Solace, which was a little more than I usually pay (I am cheap!), but tasted awesome and even had options that fit my weird dietary regiment. I recommend making reservations, but if you don’t you can always get cheap drinks next door, at Bar Pink, while you wait. So after the awesome meal, it was time to head over to the Ken Club to see The Heavy Love and The Modlins, this was going to be a blast-from-the-past(pardon the cheese) type show.

Pulling up to the Ken Club, it seemed surreal. The movie theater had a huge line at 11pm, and there were two limos parked out front, but no one was outside smoking at the Ken Club. I thought I was in bizarro world. I asked a guy in line and he said it was a mountain bike movie premiere, almost on cue a gang of 8 cyclist come flying down Adams to swoop upon us. (Supposedly there was free beer at the premiere as well!?)

I passed on the mountain bike movie, and proceeded to the Ken. Luckily, while outside the Ken Club, seemed dominated by movie goers, the inside was packed and already in full swing with a rockin crowd. The Modlins had started their set and were cheerfully rockin the house. You really can’t help but smile when you watch them, the music is so catchy and well-crafted I feel like I am watching the early Beatles where girls are screaming and crying everywhere. Towards the end of the set they said they hadn’t played in a while, so they decided to play different songs than normal. While they were alluding to being a little rusty, it sounded great from the crowd.

Did the usual swing by the bar between sets, and when I got back, I noticed The Heavy Love, had a bunch of members. From what I remember, drums, vocals, bass, guitar, keys, horns, I was ready for the big sounds of Motown. When they started playing, the crowd was, like myself, kind of hestitantly shaking there hips, but as the night went on, little bubbles of movers and shakers popped up in the crowd. Miss Kerrie had amazing vocals, I wish the sound system could have been better to really show case them more. I personally got a little dance crazy when they started playing “I Want You Back” by Jackson 5, made my way to the front and danced away like a fool. All the songs sounded pretty much like the originals, they added a cool harmonized vocal part on the J5 songs. I don’t know if I missed it or something, but I love them to cover early Stevie. But they did cover a good range of really danceable old R&B tunes. Highly recommended, but be prepared to dance, especially in the front!