15/08/2009
How Awesome was Friday?
Pretty fucking awesome. If you haven’t been out the previous two nights, I suggest strongly you start today with the daytime bands on the Alley Deck.
- First, the second stage problems of the Magic Stick were completely resolved. Real mains, real monitors — everyone sounded great on those stages. By far that was the best I’ve ever seen multiple stages work in that room.
- Smoke is awesome. A great MC with enthusiasim for entertaining the crowd.
- The Pop Project extended the Garden Bowl Bar’s streak of great performances.
- I only caught a couple of songs by Juiceboxxx — what I saw was great, but it’s definitely my loss.
- The Office kind of sneak up on you. You’re watching them, maybe intrigued by the dual female drummer thing, but kind of uncertain what to make of them. You have a beer, you say hi to someone you haven’t seen in a while, you turn around and realize… oh, shit, this band is pretty great.
- Girls in their early 20’s seem to really like the Decks. If you don’t think you like the Decks, you should take into account how much you like girls in their early twenties. I already knew that I liked the Decks, but I’m here to keep you informed.
- Met the JCM — they are far more regal in person than one might have been led to believe. I was introduced to them as Gorilla… which is fine, some of my friends do call me that… but it does make one feel kind of douchey. Why no T-bone?
- TAN was really good, bringing their semi-orchestrated chaos to a crowd that definitely was ready to see them back on stage. Did they have to invite the crowd on stage? Did Ryan need to throw down the Humpty Dance? Maybe not, but it was totally worth it for the bass and drum groove that pulsed under the close of their set and Smoke’s guest appearance. Personally, I have no problem telling them, that typically, I like every other band these guys are in more than TAN. But I also can’t deny that they really sounded great last night. Brian says, “sometimes you headline, sometimes you just play last.” TAN definitely headlined.
Text posted at 11:54
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