For a late April show, it was uncannily cold with an eerie mist enshrouding the dark night. Once inside the venue, it didn’t take long to warm up. If the packed room with bodies inches apart didn’t do the trick, then the band’s music would get the job done. True to their name, headliners The Thermals got the people moving and made played some fun songs that even with the morbid lyrics, could warm even the most frozen human Popsicle.
Opening for the The Thermals was Point Juncture, WA, an electro-acoustic quartet helmed by a powerful female singer who also played drums, and an even more powerful backing band. Any band that throws in vibraphone is a winner in my book.
Already content with Point Juncture WA, The Shaky Hands‘ high-energy opener quickly showed that this show was only going to get better. There’s plenty to love about this band: danceable bass beats, plenty of clap-your-hands moments and a singer who’s voice who has that nasally quality loved by so many hipster, but unlike so many other hipster singers, you can actually understand what he is saying (I’m looking at you Clap Your Hands Say Yeah). Their music was ridiculously catchy, but they didn’t shy away from a few moments of experimentation. Although, even if they sounded like shit, I think there drummer still would have made me like them as he constantly bounced out of his chair and intensely banged on cymbals. Check The Shaky Hands out; these guys will probably move up to headlining soon.
When the Portland trio The Thermals took the stage, the room practically exploded into a dance party. OK, that might be a bit unfair, but a few guys definitely tried really hard to get everybody involved in a big dance party as they moshed back and forth in the front, but the indie kids of Omaha do not like to be touched and fight nearly broke out. Maybe the band couldn’t see what was going down, while they played “Now We Can See”, but the near-fight didn’t make them miss a beat. It’s probably for the best.
Touring behind the release of their new album Now We Can See, the band played a majority of songs from it, but also digged deep into the catalog for some oldies to please the diehards. As much as I love Hutch Harris and his Josh Darnielle (Mountain Goats)-esque voice and the pop chords, I must confess that some of their songs started to blend. And that is a risk when you use as many power chords as they do. Nonetheless, the heart of this band is in their lyrics and the stories within.
I must note that this tour is also a sort of debut for their drummer Westin Glass and he makes a fantastic addition to the band with his fantastic drumming and even more fantastic facial expressions. His addition also helps free bassist Kathy Foster from those duties, which I imagine makes it easier for her to do her little jumping jack move.
Check this band out both on recording and live. You will not regret it.
Of course I had to get through Kaki King first on Saturday night. A year ago, I would’ve been all about the technical wizardry (one of my favorite bands is Joan of Arc), but I’m less impressed by it now. This girl certainly is talented, I must admit. My biggest qualm with her set was the schizophrenic nature of it. She would play a really techy song on the acoustic, then go into a shoegaze song, and then a “hardcore” song, as she puts it (Ray Cappo is shaking his head somewhere).
He played some solo songs, some songs with Kaki King from their new Black Pear Tree EP, a Morrissey cover (“Suedehead”!), and a song that sounded nothing like Mountain Goats (“Super Genesis”). After that lull in the set, enter crowd pleasers! “This Year” jump-started the energy and the end of the set. A mellow rendition of the classic “Dance Music” got the audience pepped as the drums stopped and everyone bellowed “And I don’t want to die alone!”
