The first band, 7 Orange ABC, played quality rock n roll. They were clearly excellent musicians who consistently bring out a quality show and the amount of people who seemed to be there to see them was a clear indicator of that. I thought their sound was a little on the country side until they brought out a homemade electronic instrument that was quite interesting. There were four members of the band, two guitars, bass and drums with vocals traded between the drummer and one guitarist, which helped to keep the sound fresh. It was an all around good performance and the audience was totally on board.
When the six members of Hey Rosetta! took the stage I was excited to hear what was to come. Between Gordon’s recommendation and the presence of string players I just knew I was going to like what I was going to hear. What followed was a dynamic and varied performance that instantly transformed me into a fan. They have that thickly orchestrated indie-pop sound I love. Frontman Tim Baker had the kind of voice I love, smooth and soulful and full of energy. Even better was the variety of sound, feel and tempo to each song. They were exactly what an entertaining band should be: varied, but retaining their own sound with interesting, charismatic performers that are not too over the top.
It’s always easiest to be enthralled by the musican you’re standing in front of, and this time it was nearly impossible to watch the other band members. The cello/guitar/keyboard stylings of Romesh Thavanathan were excellent, and made even more excellent by his ability to switch seamlessly between the instruments. At one point my friend Bridget said to me “He makes the rest of the band seem lazy! Why does he have to do everything? Couldn’t someone else play that percussion egg?” Sometimes it seemed true, but most of the time everyone else was rocking it so hard you had to forgive them for only playing one instrument. I was also impressed when bassist Josh Ward broke a string (on a five string bass no less) and it only took him a little bit to transpose his part to a different string. He went off stage at the end of the song then was back, bass re-strung in less than half a song, maybe three minutes? Professionally hardcore.
Between Hey Rosetta! and Revolver there was an interesting “change of the guards” effect in the crowd where the people seemed to completely switch out; the front row being replaced by really drunk people. If you’ve read my other reviews you’d know how I feel about really drunk people at shows (I hate them with the fire of a thousand suns). So I took three songs worth of pictures (and had an excessively drunk asshole grab and kiss my brand new lens) then moved to the back where my rage quickly subsided, lulled into submission by Revolver’s sweet three part harmonies. And thank god for that! Their voices blended effortlessly and made what could have been considered simple rock music something spectacular.
From the back of the room the crowd seemed friendly, dancing and singing along. On stage Revolver gave a dynamic and tight performance, well deserving of the positive audience energy. When it came time for the encore the band came back on stage quickly and treated us to an a song sans microphones (that’s without for the non-french speakers). We all gathered close to hear and those three part harmonies rang out one last time gloriously. Ending a great evening on quite a fine note.
Hey Rosetta!’s Setlist (I couldn’t get Revolver’s):
