My friend and I arrive at The Michigan Theater with plenty of time to spare. After some shawarma and a couple of cigarettes we went to our seats in the balcony, which had a great view of the stage if you ignored the large piping which i can only assume is there for safety purposes.
The Opening act for Band of Horses was really quite awful. They never told the audience their name, other than “Jason and Lyonel,” their sound was melancholic but with an amateur sound I kept wondering if I was in middle school, in some friend of a friend’s garage listening to their “indi” sound. The lyrics were forcefully quirky, despite their use of pre-recorded keyboard beats, there was little to follow in the music which was mostly made up of power chords. Interesting choice for an opening act.
After another cigarette and some mindless chatter with strangers and some friends who showed up, Band of Horses started. I’ve always been impressed with their sound but was completely unprepared for the excellence that is their live performance.
Their lighting designer deserves a metal for not being too obnoxious but creating a colorful ambiance to accompany the narrative lyrics, epic guitar, organ and amazing drumming. They had some beautiful images projected on the back wall of the stage through out the show that created some really interesting shadows and really added to the whole effect of this band and their music.
Unfortunately people were comfortably seated with their popcorn and beer so there was little dancing initially. However, after the first couple song my friends and I stood in the back of the theater to thrash our little hearts out. There was a moment where the stage lights illuminated our position and we got a “wave out” from the band! a great moment.
The drums were much heavier live than they come across on the album, which i must say i prefer. Over-all i enjoyed their live performance more than their recorded music, which I already love. Out of all the concerts, big and small, I have seen over the years (first one, 2000 TRL tour with Destiny’s Child) this show is ranking number one!
If you ever have a chance to see a band you love perform live, go. Seeing how they hold up under the pressure of immediate success/ failure is always interesting and illuminating.
By the last couple of songs there were people flocking to the stage and those of us in the balcony were standing and jammin. Fantastic performance and show of enthusiasm and appreciation from the fans.
