Who: The Features with Great American Cities and Joey from From Indian Lakes
When: September 18, 2013
Where: Bottom of the Hill/ San Francisco, CA
With: Like nobody. Seriously, SF, get your shit together.
Of Note: Squee! We'll go with squee!
Okay, so how pumped was I when I saw that The Features were going to be in SF? And tickets were only $10? Sign me up, yo! As you'll recall, I saw The Features at Austin City Limits and loved them.
The first band was called Great American Cities, and according to their facebook page, this was their last gig for a while. They had a perfectly serviceable indie rock/pop sound and were a lot of fun to visually watch - mostly because the guitar player had incredible hair. He also used some super cool guitar effects throughout the show, causing me to look around for the presence of an accordion, or perhaps several more guitar players. Neither were present, of course - it was just some sick pedal work. There was a song that repeated the phrase "What You Need" and it was awesome. I can't seem to find a recording of it anywhere - Spotify/SoundCloud/YouTube/iTunes - but, rest assured it was awesome. (Also, their SoundCloud recordings? Way more electronic than their performance. I preferred them live.)
Next up was Joey, from the band From Indian Lakes. No word as to why the rest of the band wasn't there, but he put on a one man acoustic show. He was a good performer and although he noted that he doesn't usually talk during sets, had good crowd rapport. Whenever a song was complete and the crowd clapped, he noted that we were all very nice. It makes me concerned that he's not used to getting applause. (Maybe just nervous without his band?) My favorite song of the set is called 'Your Son', apparently because I really liked the line "Pictures of you crying that make me cry too." It was a lovely, melancholy moment. The recording of the song, from their album is WAY more whiny. Again, I preferred it live. Towards the end of the set, someone from the crowd made a request and he said he couldn't do that song "without my band...and my pyrotechnics." He went on to say, "Do I look like a pyrotechnics guy? I would get set on fire for sure." I found this hilarious and very endearing. It seemed like a fair portion of the crowd was there to see him and they were very enthusiastic. I thought he had a great guitar song and a pretty voice.
Then... The Features! Here's the thing - sometimes I think I have a problem with scale. Like, anytime I'm a fan of something, I just assume the thing is a BIG DEAL. Many times I'm right. Sometimes I'm wrong. In this instance, I was wrong. At ACLFest, they had an early in the day slot, sure. But, it was still a big crowd that turned up for them. There were only like 50 people at this show and I just found that so strange. I mean, haven't I heard them on AltNation? Didn't they have a song on a car commercial? Since I love them, shouldn't everyone else love them? I was super confused because I expected it to be packed and it just wasn't. Come on people of SF, what are you doing with your lives? Nothing good, clearly, if you can't come out and see an incredible show!
Anyway, they were incredible. I was so impressed that the show they put on for 50 of us at a bar on a Wednesday was just as good as the show they put on for a crowd at ACL - which, class act, dudes. They have the coolest sound - that intersection of classic rock influence, a little bit of jam, but totally modern. The organ effects sounded really cool in this space. The lead singer, Matt (per Wikipedia) had just a touch of the crazy behind the eyes and it translates to his voice - there's an underlying intensity...almost yearning? that cuts beyond the lyrics to sucker pull you in. Some highlights included 'Temporary Blues' - I love the inflection on the line 'steel toed rubber boots'; plus it has some personal finance messages, which I'm all about. I also loved 'Golden Comb'; the "I tried and I tried to keep you satisfied" chorus is a great example of the yearning vocal quality that I mentioned. Like, I really felt how much he tried. I adore the guitar riff and keyboard line in 'The New Romantic'. Plus the little upswing on "..tic" is so fun!
(Sidebar: I'd like to give a shout out to the guy in the Hungry Caterpillar shirt that was going bonkers. Like, arm-flailing, neck-snapping, full bodied dancing. I love seeing people that caught up in the music. And to the bitchy, very baked (based on their bathroom conversation) girls who were making fun of him? Ugh. Just because somebody enjoys something in a different way than you do doesn't make it wrong. Shut up. Also, maybe pay attention to the band, jackasses.)
In the middle of 'The Drawing Board', they started vamping, the singer noting that nobody could remember the words. He attributed it to the "big bowl of mac & cheese they had before the show." Hardy-har. The drummer helpfully came up with the next part. I thought it was a bold choice to put 'How it Starts', arguably their most famous song (though, what do I know? I thought everyone knew them!), in the middle of the set. It made me kind of sad that nobody did the "clap clap" during the chorus. 'Lions' as the second to last song was fun.
I was kind of surprised we got an encore- but we all stood there clapping, so they came back out. They closed with 'Thursday' and there was this magic moment where everythign dropped out and it was a capella for a few bars. It actually gave me chills. Then it was back to a carousing "la-da-da-da" big jam finish.
I know I said this back in November when I first wrote about them but, seriously, if you like rock & roll even a little, check out The Features. Their recordings are great and they are PHENOMENAL live. I expected better taste from you, San Francisco.
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When: September 18, 2013
Where: Bottom of the Hill/ San Francisco, CA
With: Like nobody. Seriously, SF, get your shit together.
Of Note: Squee! We'll go with squee!
Okay, so how pumped was I when I saw that The Features were going to be in SF? And tickets were only $10? Sign me up, yo! As you'll recall, I saw The Features at Austin City Limits and loved them.
The first band was called Great American Cities, and according to their facebook page, this was their last gig for a while. They had a perfectly serviceable indie rock/pop sound and were a lot of fun to visually watch - mostly because the guitar player had incredible hair. He also used some super cool guitar effects throughout the show, causing me to look around for the presence of an accordion, or perhaps several more guitar players. Neither were present, of course - it was just some sick pedal work. There was a song that repeated the phrase "What You Need" and it was awesome. I can't seem to find a recording of it anywhere - Spotify/SoundCloud/YouTube/iTunes - but, rest assured it was awesome. (Also, their SoundCloud recordings? Way more electronic than their performance. I preferred them live.)
Next up was Joey, from the band From Indian Lakes. No word as to why the rest of the band wasn't there, but he put on a one man acoustic show. He was a good performer and although he noted that he doesn't usually talk during sets, had good crowd rapport. Whenever a song was complete and the crowd clapped, he noted that we were all very nice. It makes me concerned that he's not used to getting applause. (Maybe just nervous without his band?) My favorite song of the set is called 'Your Son', apparently because I really liked the line "Pictures of you crying that make me cry too." It was a lovely, melancholy moment. The recording of the song, from their album is WAY more whiny. Again, I preferred it live. Towards the end of the set, someone from the crowd made a request and he said he couldn't do that song "without my band...and my pyrotechnics." He went on to say, "Do I look like a pyrotechnics guy? I would get set on fire for sure." I found this hilarious and very endearing. It seemed like a fair portion of the crowd was there to see him and they were very enthusiastic. I thought he had a great guitar song and a pretty voice.
Then... The Features! Here's the thing - sometimes I think I have a problem with scale. Like, anytime I'm a fan of something, I just assume the thing is a BIG DEAL. Many times I'm right. Sometimes I'm wrong. In this instance, I was wrong. At ACLFest, they had an early in the day slot, sure. But, it was still a big crowd that turned up for them. There were only like 50 people at this show and I just found that so strange. I mean, haven't I heard them on AltNation? Didn't they have a song on a car commercial? Since I love them, shouldn't everyone else love them? I was super confused because I expected it to be packed and it just wasn't. Come on people of SF, what are you doing with your lives? Nothing good, clearly, if you can't come out and see an incredible show!
Anyway, they were incredible. I was so impressed that the show they put on for 50 of us at a bar on a Wednesday was just as good as the show they put on for a crowd at ACL - which, class act, dudes. They have the coolest sound - that intersection of classic rock influence, a little bit of jam, but totally modern. The organ effects sounded really cool in this space. The lead singer, Matt (per Wikipedia) had just a touch of the crazy behind the eyes and it translates to his voice - there's an underlying intensity...almost yearning? that cuts beyond the lyrics to sucker pull you in. Some highlights included 'Temporary Blues' - I love the inflection on the line 'steel toed rubber boots'; plus it has some personal finance messages, which I'm all about. I also loved 'Golden Comb'; the "I tried and I tried to keep you satisfied" chorus is a great example of the yearning vocal quality that I mentioned. Like, I really felt how much he tried. I adore the guitar riff and keyboard line in 'The New Romantic'. Plus the little upswing on "..tic" is so fun!
(Sidebar: I'd like to give a shout out to the guy in the Hungry Caterpillar shirt that was going bonkers. Like, arm-flailing, neck-snapping, full bodied dancing. I love seeing people that caught up in the music. And to the bitchy, very baked (based on their bathroom conversation) girls who were making fun of him? Ugh. Just because somebody enjoys something in a different way than you do doesn't make it wrong. Shut up. Also, maybe pay attention to the band, jackasses.)
In the middle of 'The Drawing Board', they started vamping, the singer noting that nobody could remember the words. He attributed it to the "big bowl of mac & cheese they had before the show." Hardy-har. The drummer helpfully came up with the next part. I thought it was a bold choice to put 'How it Starts', arguably their most famous song (though, what do I know? I thought everyone knew them!), in the middle of the set. It made me kind of sad that nobody did the "clap clap" during the chorus. 'Lions' as the second to last song was fun.
I was kind of surprised we got an encore- but we all stood there clapping, so they came back out. They closed with 'Thursday' and there was this magic moment where everythign dropped out and it was a capella for a few bars. It actually gave me chills. Then it was back to a carousing "la-da-da-da" big jam finish.
I know I said this back in November when I first wrote about them but, seriously, if you like rock & roll even a little, check out The Features. Their recordings are great and they are PHENOMENAL live. I expected better taste from you, San Francisco.
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