Monday, June 23, 2008
polvo
photo by Brad Searles; he's got more up at his Flickr page
Okay, this was awesome.
New Radiant Storm King: still a really catchy indie-rock band. I never saw 'em ten years ago, or anything, but I imagine a NRSK show in '98 wouldn't be too much different from what I saw on Friday. Which is in no way a bad thing; consistency and longevity should be respected. Fine set by these guys.
Birds of Avalon: uh, holy shit. Maybe the best rock performance I've seen since ZoSo. Yeah okay not really (on either count) but this was still great. I saw these guys a few years ago and thought they were pretty good. Either they've gotten a hell of a lot better, or maybe pro sound at a real club suits 'em more than a small PA in a Jewish youth center basement; whatever happened, they've become almost sort of completely god-damned amazing. They seemed like full-on boogie woogie back in ' 04, very befitting a band featuring the Cherry Valence's former guitarists. Now though it's like Zep and Who's Next with a bit of mellow psychedelic wonkiness tossed in to let 'em catch their breath. They played an awesome cover of "Armenia City In the Sky" that out-classes Sugar's in every way possible. Like the Valence Birds of Avalon are far better live than on record, and totally worth seeing at least once by anybody who enjoys classic rock.
Polvo: This is how reunion shows should be done. No reference to a reunion, or the intervening years, in fact no banter that wasn't about basketball. Just get up there, make your old songs new and your new songs newer, and fulfill everybody's expectations while blasting them heads flat. They turned my brains into diamond or something. Heavy with hits from their mid-to-late period, but often changed drastically into new-ish entities, with recognizable shards of classic songs jutting through new and often awesome bits of business, the set was totally satisfying. They started with "Fractured (Like Chandeliers)", straight into "Feather of Forgiveness", and followed up with at least one song from every album (save Cor-Crane, I believe) and ep, before finishing the main set with "Downtown Dedication" and "Title Track". In-between was a drastically reworked "Every Holy Shroud", the most so, that retained all of its mind-blowing bombast while offering up a new and intriguing interpretation of an all-time favorite (indeed: their best song, I declare). Somewhere in there was a fantastic drum solo by Brian Quast (of a band called the Cherry Valence, you might've read about 'em somewhere), who is so damn amazing that I (and most others) pretty much forgot about Eddie Watkins almost immediately (which yeah makes me feel bad, I'm sorry dude, you totally should've been there). There was also a new song in there, sung by Dave Byrlawski (charter member of the Good Guys of Rock, starting soon), that was notable for being just as good as the old stuff it was sandwiched between. If they do make another record, I'm pretty sure it compare favorably to the old stuff, if this song is any indication.
Anyway: great show. Good chats w/ Crog and Ice afterward. Dudes were missed.
photo by Brad Searles; he's got more up at his Flickr page
Okay, this was awesome.
New Radiant Storm King: still a really catchy indie-rock band. I never saw 'em ten years ago, or anything, but I imagine a NRSK show in '98 wouldn't be too much different from what I saw on Friday. Which is in no way a bad thing; consistency and longevity should be respected. Fine set by these guys.
Birds of Avalon: uh, holy shit. Maybe the best rock performance I've seen since ZoSo. Yeah okay not really (on either count) but this was still great. I saw these guys a few years ago and thought they were pretty good. Either they've gotten a hell of a lot better, or maybe pro sound at a real club suits 'em more than a small PA in a Jewish youth center basement; whatever happened, they've become almost sort of completely god-damned amazing. They seemed like full-on boogie woogie back in ' 04, very befitting a band featuring the Cherry Valence's former guitarists. Now though it's like Zep and Who's Next with a bit of mellow psychedelic wonkiness tossed in to let 'em catch their breath. They played an awesome cover of "Armenia City In the Sky" that out-classes Sugar's in every way possible. Like the Valence Birds of Avalon are far better live than on record, and totally worth seeing at least once by anybody who enjoys classic rock.
Polvo: This is how reunion shows should be done. No reference to a reunion, or the intervening years, in fact no banter that wasn't about basketball. Just get up there, make your old songs new and your new songs newer, and fulfill everybody's expectations while blasting them heads flat. They turned my brains into diamond or something. Heavy with hits from their mid-to-late period, but often changed drastically into new-ish entities, with recognizable shards of classic songs jutting through new and often awesome bits of business, the set was totally satisfying. They started with "Fractured (Like Chandeliers)", straight into "Feather of Forgiveness", and followed up with at least one song from every album (save Cor-Crane, I believe) and ep, before finishing the main set with "Downtown Dedication" and "Title Track". In-between was a drastically reworked "Every Holy Shroud", the most so, that retained all of its mind-blowing bombast while offering up a new and intriguing interpretation of an all-time favorite (indeed: their best song, I declare). Somewhere in there was a fantastic drum solo by Brian Quast (of a band called the Cherry Valence, you might've read about 'em somewhere), who is so damn amazing that I (and most others) pretty much forgot about Eddie Watkins almost immediately (which yeah makes me feel bad, I'm sorry dude, you totally should've been there). There was also a new song in there, sung by Dave Byrlawski (charter member of the Good Guys of Rock, starting soon), that was notable for being just as good as the old stuff it was sandwiched between. If they do make another record, I'm pretty sure it compare favorably to the old stuff, if this song is any indication.
Anyway: great show. Good chats w/ Crog and Ice afterward. Dudes were missed.
