Tag: concert review (Page 2 of 2)

We Are Serenades @ Mercury Lounge

May 13, 2012 / aftertheshow

On May 9th I caught Swedish band We Are Serenades at Mercury Lounge.

We Are Serenades has two frontmen, Adam Olenius from Shout Out Louds and Markus Krunegard from Laakso. The band is touring to support its album that came out last month in the US.

“Daydreaming,” a softer song that emphasizes vocal harmony, and “Come Home,” surprisingly a Christmas song, were the two tracks that struck me as the best.

We Are Serenades played “Come Home” a bit faster live than on the record, and the increase in tempo made the song (especially the chorus) even catchier.

Album version of “Come Home”:

If you want to know more about the band, head to We Are Serenades’s website.

EXITMUSIC @ Le Poisson Rouge

May 7, 2012 / aftertheshow

Saturday May 5^th, I caught Exitmusic opening for School of Seven Bells at Le Poisson Rouge.

I was impressed with the force and power that Exitmusic exuded. Exitmusic’s songs would be perfect for the soundtrack of a movie – the music was dark, brooding, and cinematic.

Unique aspects of the set: The drummer played an electric bass drum, and the guitarist played with a violin bow on one song.

“The Hours” stuck out as the band’s best song. Check out a live version on KEXP:

Exitmusic

Review: WATERS @ Webster Hall

December 9, 2011 / aftertheshow

On Wednesday (12/7), I got the chance to see WATERS open for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at NY’s Webster Hall.

WATERS, a four man band from San Francisco led by Van P, played songs from their first record to a packed room (the show was sold out).

For the opening song, the drummer played with a tambourine in one hand and a stick in the other hand, creating a unique percussive wall of sound. The songs were more energetic and lush live than on the album, and they benefited from the more driving, rockier feel of the drums.

A drum-driven instrumental break segued into the song “Back To You,” one of the highlights of WATERS’ set. Towards the end of this song, I noticed that the drummer broke one of his sticks, but he recovered immediately.

Before the last song, Van switched to an acoustic guitar and explained that he wrote the song “Mickey Mantle” when he was living in New York for a little while. To my surprise, he came down from the stage (along with his bandmates) and stood in the middle of a circle of people in the crowd.

Playing the last song unplugged was a good idea (a la Brandi Carlile with “How These Days Grow Long”), but in reality it was terribly disappointing. Unless you were lucky enough to be standing close enough to the band, it was impossible to hear anything. People entering the room had no idea that anything was going on — they couldn’t see and couldn’t hear, so everyone started talking to each other, making it even more difficult to hear the song.

(Partial) solution: I left Webster Hall listening to “Mickey Mantle” on my iPhone.

WATERS is touring Europe in February with Nada Surf.

The Elected @ Mercury Lounge: Concert Recap

May 27, 2011 / aftertheshow

The Elected (Blake Sennett) played at New York’s Mercury Lounge on Tuesday, May 24, 2011.

The band opened the show with a cover of “You Got Lucky” by Tom Petty going into The Elected’s song “Not Going Home”:

Highlights of the show included “Greetings in Braille,” an acoustic version of “Time is Coming” to end the show, and “Babyface” (see video clip below):

The best part of the concert was when Blake played a snippet of his Rilo Kiley song “August”:

Photos below taken by After The Show:

Photos property of After The Show.

Nada Surf: Troubadour Concert Recap

May 28, 2010 / aftertheshow

Nada Surf played two sold-out shows at LA’s Troubadour on Tuesday and Wednesday (May 25th and 26th).

The band played a mix of old and new songs. They played songs from previous albums such as “Happy Kid,” “Blizzard of ’77,” “Inside of Love,” “Do It Again,” and “Always Love.” “Electrocution” was their best new song.

Unfortunately, they didn’t play “The Way You Wear Your Head,” “I Like What You Say,” or their cover of “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.” They did, however, play a great cover of “I Fought The Law.”