With a lineup like 107.7 The End’s annual Deck the Hall Ball had, one should have expected a multi-faceted night of music, which is exactly what we got. That lineup included Sleigh Bells, The Temper Trap, the return of Cake, Jimmy Eat World, the Black Keys, and Broken Bells, who closed out the night.
Starting the 6-hour marathon of some of the most played acts on The End was buzzband Sleigh Bells, who clearly had the most attitude out of all the bands. Singer Alexis Krauss sported silver spandex leggings and pristine white Keds and guitarist Derek Miller walked out with jeans and a black hoodie, and brought some of the loudest music I’d ever heard. It was so loud I suspected problems with the sound system, but standing further away from the stage was much better than being right up close where I was. The pairing of Miller and Krauss is an odd one, as Krauss has a hard and sexy stage presence. With how much of their live songs include a backing track, you almost wondered if Miller’s guitar was even on. Even though there were sound issues, it was still nice to see The End giving a newer band a spot at the show.
After that, all the music of the night was basically the playlist that The End has been featuring for the last year – with the bands playing as well as the songs playing during intermissions. When Cee Lo Green’s “F*ck You” played over the PA system (completely uncensored!) all the excited fans squished up against the barrier as well as us photographers in the pit sang along to the catchy lament.
The Temper Trap was up next, starting the dance number “Fader” off Conditions. Having seen The Temper Trap twice before in the last seven months, I could almost expect what the set list would be, but the Temper Trap never fails to please me. Since it was a radio show and they only had so much time to play, they ended up playing all the really strong songs off the album, so nothing seemed like filler. The double-header of “Resurrection” and “Drum Song” was the highlight of their set, even overshadowing the crowd favorite “Sweet Disposition” which closed their set. Honestly, that song is getting old, so I enjoyed the lesser-known songs like the epic crescendo of “Science of Fear.”
Following the Temper Trap was the very triumphant return of Cake. I was honestly surprised so many people in the audience was so into them, because last year’s Deck the Hall Ball was full of teenyboppers, but this year’s crowd was much more old-school. I didn’t feel old this year, which was nice. I didn’t listen to Cake a lot before the show on my own time, but I was always pleased to hear them on the radio, and these guys can still put on a great show. With old favorites like “Comfort Eagle,” “Never There” and “Short Skirt Long Jacket,” as well as newest “Sick of You,” off Showroom of Compassion out next month. I guarantee they couldn’t have found a more fun band all in their forties, and lead singer John McCrea put on a great show while having so much fun with this room of mostly kids.
Shortly after Cake, we were told that there was going to be a special guest to come out and play a couple songs. It being Seattle, and myself looking into it way too much when I heard a Pearl Jam song over the loudspeaker, I thought Eddie Vedder. He’s been known to make unexpected appearances at shows all around Seattle, so it could have happened. But I was mistaken; the Presidents of the United States of the America jumped out on stage with joy, met with an equally joyous response from the crowd.
“We came to the door and wanted to get in, and they said it was sold out. They told us that we’d have to sing a song to get in,” lead singer Andrew McKeag told the room.
Instead of playing classic PUSA songs like “Lump” or “Peaches,” they busted out with “Snow Miser” from the stop-motion classic The Year Without A Santa Claus, which was a nice tip of the hat to the holiday season, and a nice way to bring the whole show back to the local level, seeing that none of the bands playing were from Seattle. PUSA’s appearance exemplified The End’s motto “Seattle’s original alternative.”
Jimmy Eat World was next, starting off with “Bleed American,” which was one clue as to what kind of songs they’d be playing for their set. I was so pleasantly surprised to know that a majority of their songs were vintage Jimmy Eat World, because these were songs from my early teen years, when “emo” was all the rage, and still good. It made it apparent that Jimmy Eat World knew what the audience wanted, not just what would sell more copies of their new record. We got “The Middle,” “A Praise Chorus,” “If You Don’t, Don’t,” “Get It Faster,” and one of my favorite ballads ever, “Hear You Me.” I was seriously sitting on the side of the room going through my pictures singing along to all the words. Even sweeter was their cover of Wham’s “Last Christmas,” which I actually have in my iTunes library, so it wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to me like most people.
But none of the bands until then matched up to the Black Keys. After seeing their performance at Deck the Hall Ball, I’m kicking myself that I didn’t go to their show in September. Not only was their album “Brothers” highly-critically-acclaimed this year, but also Dan Auerbach’s blues rock swagger mixed with Patrick Carney’s tremendous energy behind the drums make it impossible to take your eyes off them. Thank goodness there are only two of them, or else you’d have a hard time catching all the awesome. A few stand-out tracks were “Howlin’ for You,” “Everlasting Light” and the hugely popular (almost overplayed) “Tighten Up.” I’ll say that this was the one band that stuck out in several ways – the crowd they brought was easily recognizable, and they were on a completely other level than the other bands playing. You don’t hear much blues-rock anymore on mainstream radio other than the White Stripes, and the old-school attitude of the Black Keys was so refreshing.
I assumed that after the Black Keys, Broken Bells would be quite anti-climactic. In fact, when I saw the lineup a month ago, I was confused as to why Broken Bells were the headliners in the first place. They’re very low-energy compared to the rest of the bands playing that night. I’m sorry to say that my assumption was correct, even though their performance was tweaked a bit since their sold-out show at the Showbox back in May to be more suited to the big room. The songs had a bit more oomph than they previously had, but James Mercer and Dangermouse’s Broken Bells still couldn’t stand up to the Black Keys live performance before them.
To be quite honest, I left a bit early as to avoid the traffic getting out of the parking garage, but I left way more satisfied than I thought I would be before I arrived. The End had done well this year bringing the buzz. I got in my car, turned on my iPod and played Cake, Jimmy Eat World, and the Black Keys all the way home.
Anthemic. Epic. So incredibly reminiscent of the pop-punk days of the 90′s. I almost called this a guilty pleasure album, but there’s no reason to feel guilty. Balance and Composure’s Separation is just really good and should have come out twelve years ago. It has Kurt Cobain’s dark feelings to it, but pops and rocks like early Jimmy Eat World. Its twelve tracks clock in at around 48 minutes which means it’s initially a big undertaking. But once you give this album the time of day it deserves it becomes very cohesive and works well as a whole.
