popwreckoning

Though Brandon Flowers isn’t free from haters, one thing was obvious Saturday night – he is loved by more.

The audience at Liberty Hall in Lawrence was a diverse group. Hipsters, bros, children, seniors – they were all united for this one show. And while there plenty of crushing women there, there were plenty simply there just because they like music; and, if you can believe it, there were even more guys in attendance than women.

Travis frontman Fran Healy opened the show with an acoustic set of Travis songs and solo material. Before each tune, he told  little anecdotes that ranged from his love of darts, his birthday party show the last time he was in Lawrence and turning vegetarian for Paul McCartney. The songs were pleasant, and easy to listen to with his lilting accent, but it were these stories that were most memorable.

Set List
Sing (Travis)
Sing Me to Sleep
Moonshine
Dear Diary (Travis)
As It Comes
Writing to Reach You
Buttercups

Brandon Flowers took to the stage and it seemed as though the amount of people in the venue had magically tripled. Looking around as he began the reflective, “On the Floor,” and seeing all the lips moving along, it was a great surprise to see that these people weren’t just there for the curiosity of seeing The Killers frontman. They actually knew the solo material! Another great surprise was seeing that joining Brandon’s backing band was KC local and former Ghosty guitarist Jake Blanton. Brandon even gave Blanton a special shout out later in the set right before an acoustic performance of the Killers’ “When You Were Young.”

Anyone at the show would be hard-pressed to criticize a moment of Flowers set. Sure it was just barely over an hour, but it contained essentially all the solo album material, a flawless cover of 80′s classic “Bette Davis Eyes” and two reworked Killers tunes. Flowers performed with a charismatic energy that carried him to jump on monitors, reach out to the crowd, perform quirky, but fun dance moves and perhaps the best part – a contagious smile. Vocally, he didn’t miss a beat — or a pitch. The solo material on recording has the alt country vibe that makes it fitting for a bar-type venue, but Flowers managed to carry these tunes to a higher level live. They were anthems. “Crossfire,” as a single could have been expected to be huge, but “Jilted Lovers” and “Playing with Fire” also exploded with their vocal intensity. “Was It Something I Said” and “Only the Young” turned the venue into a rocking dance party.

Flowers didn’t give quite as many anecdotes as his opener, but the few stories he did tell were interesting notes on the material. He explained the pilgrimage behind the beautiful “Magdalena” and his love of his home before “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas,” but the most fascinating story was about a song that almost didn’t happen: “The Clock Was Tickin.” This is a song about Flowers’ mother’s life. The song is a lively country song as it details how Jackie fell in love, raised all those kids, but then it slows down as the family has to say goodbye, before picking back up again. It’s kind of beautiful that he wrote a song that instead of mourning her death, celebrates her life. So why didn’t the studio want it to happen? Too country and too different they said. Which Flowers said was funny, because it is essentially the same tune as “Was It Something I Said?” Regardless of what the studio originally said or thought, everyone listening to that song that night would probably agree that they are glad that Flowers finished the song and shared it.

The night, of course, ended with the aforementioned “When You Were Young.” It was a perfect evening and for anyone who gets the chance, check out Brandon Flowers on tour. These songs only get better when you hear them live.

Set List:
On the Floor
Crossfire
Magdalena
Bette Davis Eyes
Jilted Lovers and Broken Hearts
Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas
Was It Something I Said
Hard Enough
Losing Touch
Swallow It
Only the Young
Playing with Fire
///
Clock Was Tickin
When You Were Young (acoustic)

Influential Glaswegian twee pop band Belle and Sebastian will be releasing their eighth album, Belle and Sebastian Write About Love, in the States on October 12 on Rough Trade Records. Title track “Write About Love” was released as a single here on September 7, and it’s a sexy little pop number. The band will be playing several largish venues in North America starting on October 11 in Chicago, and this year’s shows mark the first time the band have played live in 4 years. Belle and Sebastian are also scheduled to appear at San Francisco’s Treasure Island Festival on October 17.

You can stream Belle and Sebastian Write About Love in its entirety on NPR prior to the album’s release in America next Tuesday.

Tour Dates
Oct 11 – Chicago Theatre / Chicago (with Smith Westerns)
Oct 12 – Massey Hall / Toronto (with Zeus)
Oct 14 – DAR Constitution Hall / Washington, DC (with Versus)
Oct 15 – Wang Theatre / Boston (with Wareham Plays Galaxie 500)
Oct 17 – Treasure Island Festival / San Francisco
Oct 19 – Arlene Schnitzer Hall / Portland (with Typhoon)
Oct 20 – Benaroya Hall / Seattle (with the Trashcan Sinatras)

Belle and Sebastian: website | myspace

I readily admit it: I started to become a wee bit giddy upon seeing We Were Promised Jetpacks‘s curly-haired, hoodie-wearing guitarist Michael Palmer on the side, itching to get onstage and fiddle with his guitar already. All the memories of the band’s first appearance in the nation’s capital, an amazing but brief set at the Black Cat last October (on the Fat Cat Records Tour), came rushing back. Then, the audience was mixed in their loyalty, either to them or their labelmates Brakes (BrakesBrakesBrakes in America) or the Twilight Sad. This night however, there was no question that all 200 exuberant ticket holders at the sold-out show Saturday night at D.C.’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotel were present to see them. But before getting to this point, let me backtrack to the evening’s two supporting bands.

Typefighter is an unsigned, local to Washington five-piece, describing their musical genre on their MySpace as being of folk, melodramatic popular song, and indie. I hadn’t gotten the chance to listen to their songs there prior to the concert, so I really didn’t know what to expect. But one look at the instruments onstage (banjo, ukulele, melodica, and keyboards, along with the usual guitars and drums) made me think, “homegrown Fanfarlo?”

I felt further confirmation of this as two songs in, the “da dum-dum” rhythm of one of Typefighter’s songs reminded me of Fanfarlo‘s “Luna.” While Simon Balthazar of the London-based folk pop band has said the title of their debut album Reservoir is related to a previous fixation about bodies of water, it appears this Washington band likes writing about boats and oceans. This is evidenced by songs like the metaphorical “Ocean Floor,” with despondent lyrics like “I’m waiting for this ocean floor to dry” and talk about sinking boats with holes. (Kind of weird that the Jetpacks have a song on a similar theme to this too, huh?) But trust me, the music itself is a lot more upbeat, with handclaps aplenty. Probably the most impressive was their set closer, “I Wrote This Song for You,” all band members singing along and snapping their fingers as lead singer/guitarist Ryan McLaughlin played ukulele.

Singer Ryan McLaughlin and multi-instrumentalist Mary Voutsas exchanged friendly, jokey banter with each other and with the audience between songs, lending a warmth pretty much absent from the other two bands’s sets. I noticed that among the many tattoos McLaughlin has on his body, he has a lighthouse on his left forearm. With lighthouses being beacons of light amidst dark and stormy seas, I feel like Typefighter just might have what it takes to shine, break out of here, and do well.

Cincinnati’s Bad Veins took a bit longer to get settled in to play, as singer/multi-instrumentalist Benjamin Davis needed just the right setup to anchor a telephone receiver in a mike stand. You read that right – a telephone receiver. Quirky is a good way to describe the rose motifs on the band’s drum kit and their telephone case and their third “band member” on display, an antique reel-to-reel tape player they’ve named Irene. With the mike stand problem resolved and Irene queued up, the duo came on to “Hail to the Chief,” leaving me wondering if only we as D.C. residents received this kind of welcome from them. Interestingly, Irene was used to add piano, horns, and strings that the two men onstage would not have been able to achieve otherwise.

Drummer Sebastian Schultz meanwhile was too busy pounding away on his drum kit (a kit I might add that was outfitted with four high-hats and cymbals in total). Schultz certainly earned his keep Saturday night, delivering powerful beats to go with Davis’s often theatrical vocal approach. At times, his voice would run emotional, sounding like James Allan of Glasvegas, but then all of a sudden turn shouty, like over the top Tyson Ritter of the All-American Rejects.

And I haven’t forgotten the telephone. All bands have a gimmick, and Bad Veins have a telephone that Davis sings into for some songs like “The Lie” and “Afraid.” All things considered, the telephone effect worked better than I thought, not only because of its uniqueness in a rock show, but because Davis would sing into the receiver and it sounded just like you would imagine hearing someone singing to you through the line. However, my favorite song of theirs, completely devoid of the telephone, was “Falling Tide,” a reminder of just how good rock ‘n’ roll can be when you’ve got forceful lyrics, killer guitar, and wicked backbeats.

11:30 rolled around and as I mentioned early on in this review, seeing guitarist Michael Palmer smiling and raring to go made me smile. Scotland is doing very well musically in my book, producing both Camera Obscura and We Were Promised Jetpacks, definitely two of my faves as of late. Good bands have excellent musicians or a charismatic singer. Great bands like the Jetpacks have both. The band’s opening number Saturday night, “Keeping Warm,” came in like a hurricane, the guitars of Palmer, lead singer Adam Thompson, and bassist Sean Smith wailing, and Darren Lackie beating his drums so furiously that one of his drumsticks broke and the broken piece flew into the air, landing near the front of the stage. (You know what they say about physics and momentum.) Even before Thompson uttered a word, the combined sound was so loud, it was as if the club was a jetliner and we were about to take flight.

The effect successfully built up the crowd’s excitement for seeing these four lads from Edinburgh, who played most of the songs off their well-received debut album These Four Walls. Before launching into hit “Roll Up Your Sleeves,” a smiling Thompson said to us, “thanks to everyone who came to the Black Cat show [last October]. That was a great show for us!” The crowd cheered appreciatively, one woman shouting back, “tell us a Scottish joke!” (This was most likely in reference to some jokes the Black Cat crowd had with Thompson the last time they were in town.) He considered this for a half-second before replying with a wide grin, “a Scottish joke? Fuck off!” Laughter.

I expected many in the audience to know and sing along to all of the words to songs like “Quiet Little Voices” and “Ships with Holes Will Sink,” but I was surprised when some provided loud impromptu backing with their voices on the instrumental portions of the set closer “Short Bursts.” Throughout the set, Thompson sang with the same never-wavering conviction displayed on their album that has no doubt made the band a hit with many music fans. The 10-song set included two new songs that unfortunately at this time have unknown titles, as I could not find the band nor their merch people afterwards to buy their new EP. But no matter. I expect the Jetpacks to make a triumphant return to D.C after becoming more of a sensation in the UK and Europe than they already are and the release of a successful second album. We Were Promised Jetpacks, the sky’s the limit!

We Were Promised Jetpacks Set List:
Keeping Warm
Quiet Little Voices
Moving Clocks Run Slow
New song (presumably not on the new EP)
New song from new EP
It’s Thunder and It’s Lightning
Roll Up Your Sleeves
This is My House, This is My Home
Ships with Holes Will Sink
Short Bursts

Tour Dates:
Feb 15 – Knitting Factory / Brooklyn*
Feb 17 – Casbah at Tremont Music Hall / Charlotte*
Feb 18 – Masquerade / Atlanta*
Feb 19 – The End / Nashville*
Feb 21 – Hailey’s / Denton, TX*
Feb 23 – Rhythm Room / Phoenix#
Feb 26 – Troubadour / Los Angeles#
Feb 27 – Slim’s / San Francisco#
Mar 01 – Biltmore Cabaret / Vancouver#
Mar 02 – Neumo’s / Seattle#
Mar 03 – Doug Fir / Portland#
Mar 05 – Urban Lounge / Salt Lake City#
Mar 06 – Hi Dive / Denver#
Mar 07 – Jackpot / Lawrence, KS#
Mar 08 – Waiting Room / Omaha#
Mar 09 – Varsity Theatre / Minneapolis#
Mar 11 - Lincoln Hall / Chicago#
Mar 12 – Grog Shop / Cleveland#
Mar 13 – Summit / Columbus#
Mar 14 – Radio Radio / Indianapolis#
Mar 15 – This Old Rock House / St. Louis#
* with Bad Veins
# with Bear Hands

We Were Promised Jetpacks: myspace | We Were Promised Jetpacks Plan Winter 2010 Tour of North America | @ Black Cat | @ monolith
Bad Veins: website | myspace
Typefighter: myspace

Glasgow-based indie rockers We Were Promised Jetpacks have announced their first headlining tour of North America for early next year. The tour will begin on February 11 at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom and continue through to the beginning of March.

The band was last on our side of the pond performing as part of the line-up for the Fat Cat Records tour this past autumn. Their debut album These Four Walls (featuring the amazing singles “Roll Up Your Sleeves,” “Quiet Little Voices,” “It’s Thunder and It’s Lightning” and “Ships With Holes Will Sink”) was released in America on July 7. Following this tour, the Scottish band will make an appearance at Austin’s South by Southwest.

Tour Dates:
Feb 11 – Bowery Ballroom / New York City
Feb 12 – First Unitarian Church / Philadelphia
Feb 13 – Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotel / Washington, DC
Feb 14 – Middle East / Cambridge, A
Feb 17 – Casbah at Tremont Music Hall / Charlotte
Feb 18 – Masquerade / Atlanta
Feb 19 – The End / Nashville
Feb 21 – Hailey’s / Denton, TX
Feb 23 – Rhythm Room / Phoenix
Feb 26 – Troubadour / Los Angeles
Feb 27 – Slim’s / San Francisco
Mar 01 – Biltmore Cabaret / Vancouver
Mar 02 – Neumo’s / Seattle
Mar 03 – Doug Fir / Portland
Mar 05 – Urban Lounge / Salt Lake City
Mar 06 – Hi Dive / Denver

Photo: Mary Chang

We Were Promised Jetpacks: myspace | @ Black Cat | @ monolith