show review: el olio wolof, rademacher, admiral radley

saturday night we were able to attend our 2nd love the captive show. this time it would be at the star palace, a place both monticore & i have been to something or other at (we think) but we couldn't remember exactly what (maybe some fpu event?).

the doors were supposed to open at 8, and el olio wolof was supposed to go on at 9. we showed up a little before 9, and there were still people waiting outside. this wasn't just some stragglers that were having a smoke, this was everybody. and, at the time i didn't see anyone i knew, so it was unclear what was going on. all we knew is that doors hadn't opened yet.

so, we wondered around a little, and eventually a friend had showed up and had run into conlan from ltc. it was explained that there were some sound issues and that the doors would open soon. well, soon is a pretty relative term, and the doors did eventually open. here's my thought on the issue: put a sign up on the door explaining the issue & keep it updated as frequently as possible with times. not everyone is an extrovert that is going to ask anyone near the door what is going on. i'm fairly outgoing but still won't do that. btw, thanks to conlan for putting up with my jokes about this throughout the night.

once inside, i made a b-line over to the bar. i wanted to see drink prices and such, and they weren't bad. $5 may be a little high for a bottled beer, but it's not terrible. and, the cocktail prices were decent enough as well. the two guys tending bar were personable enough, and it was a decent fit for the night.

el olio wolof was on first, and due to set up were on the floor, rather than the stage. i'm a big fan of el olio, and i thought they played a very good set. sadly, it was shortened due to the late start, but we understood. i mean, i still shouted for another song or two, but udnerstood when r.c. shut that down. here's el olio wolof performing their song "red witch of my dreams,":



rademacher was up second, and they were also on the floor level. if you've ever read this blog before you know i'm a rademacher fanboy, so i won't take up a lot of space gushing about them here. i thought they played a nice (also time shortened) set. here they are with their song, "roll,":



this brings us to our headliner, admiral radley. i should've spent some time last week listening to ad/rad. shoot, ltc sent out links to where i could've listened for free last week. i figured that since i enjoy earlimart and enjoyed grandaddy that it would be some seamless transition for my ears and enjoyment. sadly, it wasn't as smooth as hoped. they weren't bad, i just didn't quite get into them, and unfortunately we had to check out early so i didn't get to see their whole set. so, i can't really give a qualified review of the biggest part of the show. here they are playing:



finally, let's have some overall reflections on the night:
-venue: i like star palace. it's got the cool, black & white checkerboard floor. it's got huge windows that you can peer out of onto fulton & spy on people. i also imagine that for jam packed shows these windows will be a real enticement as people see from the street how packed it is, how alive downtown can be. i also liked the silhouettes of celebs on the walls, they give the feel of something different than most fresno venues.
-bar: as i said earlier, it was decently good. a little more diversity in beers would be good, and maybe a slightly larger plastic cup on the mixed drinks could be given, but these are small suggestions. i wasn't there for the bar, i was there for the show.
-sound: something that i noticed, and i don't have an answer for, was the fact that both of the opening acts only had one microphone, and it seemed that it was one borrowed from the headliners. venues need to provide quality equipment, and in enough numbers. both rademacher and el olio do quite a bit of off mic singing as well as backing vocals, something that was lost with only one mic.
-crowd: i thought the crowd that was there was rather good. they seemed pretty into the bands, cheered after songs, and some sung along when appropriate. the drawback to the crowd was that it wasn't big enough. my estimate was that there were 70-80 people there (maybe i'm underestimating, i don't know). if you were in the front (& not looking back) or just at the back of the crowd, it was a good crowd. if you were 30' back, or at the back windows, you realized how many more people could, and should, have been there. it's going to take time for ltc & their shows to grow and attract consistent numbers, so i'm not criticizing them at all, i just wish that more had been there on saturday night.

anyway, good night overall, and i am interested to see more shows at star palace, frank's place, or wherever else love the captive books a show.