Night Out with SSLYBY

We dropped Maggie off at the baby-sitter's and went to dinner and spent way more than I am used to, but for once, you got what you paid for. I had the best steak I have had in a long time. We got to the music venue right at 8:30 (concert time). The opening act was on stage and it looked like they were about to start. No, just air check, they go outside for awhile and the concert doesn't start until about 9:30. Witch's Hat was the opening act. Four members, guitar-bass-drums-lead singer. Interesting group, strong catchy power trio hooks with a lead singer who was trying to channel both Jack Black and Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden. A lot of medieval/Dungeons and Dragons/Lord of the Rings influenced lyrics. They seemed to have a lot of fun and the crowd enjoyed them. They were a local band as was the second band, Bald Eagle. A little more hard core than the first group. Once again, good musicians and a tight band but their lyrics were screamed and unless one was familiar with the songs, you would not have understood 3/4 of their lyrics.

At about 11:15 the headline act, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin comes on. They are a pop band heavy on catchy hooks and intelligible lyrics. Definitely a shock to the system if you came to see Bald Eagle and thought you would hang around for the last band. I think they were genuinely nervous playing after this group. The styles were extremely contrasting. I also think they are not used to being the headliners (they toured with and opened for Mute Math last year). Musically they were great all night, but you could sense that the lead singer was a little off, which could be explained because they hadn't played live in a few months and they followed the "screamers." About 6 songs in, they shifted their line up. The lead singer left his guitar and played bass, the bass player moved to drums and the drummer came out front, played guitar and shared lead vocals. The band took off from then on. This is the second time I've seen them and in both shows, after the line up change, that band was stronger.

Highlights: my favorites - Pangea, Oregon Girl, Half Awake (after the shift) and The Oceanographer (from their upcoming cd Pershing, to be released April 8th).

I started to think, why don't they start these shows on time? Don't they think about people who have baby-sitters and who don't necessarily feel like standing for 4 hours? Then I looked around the room and thought, there aren't a whole lot of people like that in the room. 12:30 is not a late night to 22 year olds. Surprisingly enough, it is for me. Funny though, I saw Spoon and Wilco and got home by 11:00. Difference, week night shows and only one opening act. Is it time to give up the live music thing? No, never! I refuse to admit that I am getting old (even though my back is extremely sore from standing for four hours last night).