Band of Horses (1/30)

Last Wednesday I went to see Band of Horses over at the Hi-Tone Cafe. The bar is only a 5 minute drive from my house so I wasn't too worried about rushing to get over there. Doors opened at 9, but I had homework for my U of Memphis class and I needed to plan a bit for the next day at school. I finally made my way over there at 10:30, figuring they'd be well into the 2nd opening act. Unfortunately I caught one song of the first band and had to sit (stand, actually) through all of the 2nd band.

I didn't catch the name of the band, but they were so mediocre/terrible I didn't want to know. They had 2 stereotypical indie guys (one with a beard and a stupid hat, the other with a poor mop of a haircut and overly thought out lyrics) , one drummer who was literally invisible, and a backup guitar player who had this vacant look on his face and hardly played anything all night. The beard/hat guy violently played the bass, and to my surprise, carried a lot of the melodies in the songs. The haircut/lyrics guy had an awful voice and played guitar. The drummer was sitting way in the back and must've been playing something - I couldn't tell though. The vacant look/not playing guy had an acoustic guitar he strummed a bit but, again, not much sound coming from him. Anyway, these guys were so boring - no one was excited for them, they weren't excited for themselves, and their music was so constructed - they seemed to be trying so hard just to play boring stuff. My feet hurt a lot during their set because I had been standing all day - I took my shoes off towards the end of their stuff.

Band of Horses was up next and started playing around 11:45. My usual bed time is around 12, so I was getting a little worried and my feet were still killing me. They started out with a couple songs I knew - St. Augustine and Great Salt Lake were played in the first 4 songs or so - and I got into the show pretty quickly. The lead singer had this thick beard, slightly crooked teeth, and an amazing voice. Right away I was surprised how powerful his voice was. The difference between this guy's band and the other band was just enormous. 2 guitar players, 1 bass player, 1 drummer, and 1 keyboard guy rounded out the rest of the band with 2 of them having beards and 2 of them having a mustaches (3 beards total, 2 mustaches, 1 fat guy). They really pulled off the flannel-beard look pretty well and I was jealous of the facial hair.

Coming into the show I feared they'd play a bunch of stuff from their new album, which I hadn't listened to yet, and that they'd leave out the songs I knew. They mixed it up pretty well and I knew about half of the songs. I actually really enjoyed the half of the show that I didn't know, too. Every other concert that I've gone to and not known the music has been pretty crappy, so this was a nice surprise. One of the unknown songs that stuck out was when the lead singer picked up his banjo (he and the other guitar players had about 5 axes each) and the keyboardist sang lead. Didn't hear the name, but it was a very rocking song and the guys on stage were jamming out for a while. Band of Horses was just way more fluid and relaxed than the opening band and the guys looked like they were having fun playing which got me into the show more. The bass player (whose facial expressions and body movements were hilarious) and the backup guitarist were a constant focus of my attention. During the 'rocking out parts' (I've got to think of a better description) they were hanging in each other's faces, looking at the other guy's guitar and simply feeling the music.

It started getting late (around 1) and they announced they were going to play their 'fake last song', not leave stage (since there was no backstage), and then start playing the encore. I laughed pretty hard at that crack - the whole encore process has always struck me as pretty weird, so it was funny to hear the singer thought it was a little weird as well. The opening notes of 'Funeral' justified me sacrificing a couple hours of sleep. I was waiting all night for the song and even got a little worried they weren't going to play it. Unfortunately, I built the song up so much, and enjoyed their whole set to the point that 'Funeral' didn't really stand out like I had hoped. It appeared as if the band didn't give as much energy as they had in some of their other songs, or maybe that I was distracted thinking about how lucky I was to be hearing my (and DJ Trouble's) favorite song. My goal accomplished (hearing 'Funeral'), I considered leaving right away to catch a few extra minutes of sleep, but I was interested in hearing some of the encore. The next song they played was one I didn't know (might have been a cover) and right after that I regretted my decision not to leave right after 'Funeral'. In all, a great show - the kind of show I wish Yo La Tengo would've played.