Senseless Hiatus.

I have not reviewed music in a few months. That is not because I have given up on music like I did once, but that was right after I heard that Tipper Gore was the percussionist in a band.

I have seen around a dozen or so concerts just in the new year. Let me re-cap a few if I may.

The first of the year really worth mentioning was The Radio Dept. I saw them at 7th Street Entry. It was a perfect venue. Since their song Heaven's on fire became such a huge hit, it was nice to not have 1,000 people screaming for them to skip ahead and play that. Instead we had 300 or so. Buy their first two albums assholes. A few friends and I got a bite to eat at The Depot Tavern next door before the show because the opening acts left much to be desired, and the guys in the radio dept were just eating dinner so I went up and talked to them for a minute. They were fantastic and the heavy accent was awesome! It was my favorite show of the year until...

Best Coast and Waaves! They were the next pleasant surprise. I arrived late so I missed the first group but was told "They killed it" so I was not very disappointed that I missed them. I hadn't thought very highly of Best Coast until I saw them live. Beth is a very good performer, involved with the crowd and chatty to the right level between songs.  She got Bob her guitarist involved and he was funny. I was standing in the front row so that's always a plus for energy and enjoyment but the sound quality always suffers. I could tell her singing was spot on though. Beautiful voice for a beautiful woman.

The last show I saw was the Are you local show. It was a kick off show for SXSW and they had a couple groups that were participating in a contest to be sent there by someone... a company a radio station? I'm really not sure I had a lot to drink. I can tell you though, the band that won, 4 on the floor are definitely hard to like. They were annoying and toolsy. They tried to straddle the line between performing for the audience and trying to impress the women and if possible distract them from their enormous beer bellies. Playing after them was Phantom Tails. A very good local group. (the singer works at electric fetus just so you know) 60s, psychedelic, psychotronic and who knows what other genres they want to go with all I know is they are great!

Jeremy Messersmith headlined that show. I had seen him a couple times before, so I knew what to expect, but I was still very excited. The man puts on a near flawless show. I say near flawless because he said he wasn't planning on doing an encore. Playing "Tomorrow" he made one mistake but after like I said a flawless set he is allowed at least one. Getting to meet him at the door and ask a couple questions was also a plus. Very friendly, awkward guy. I'm hoping for even larger stardom from him. He deserves it.

P.S.

If you see a show at The Varsity Theater and get to the very front, watch out for damn photographers. They think they own the front row. A slight nudge on their arm as they shoot isn't rude.