continuing his impressive work bringing acts to visalia, aaron gomes hits us with another i think i'm going to have to go to.
Tuesday, August 25
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
@ The Cellar Door
(101 W. Main St., Visalia )
$10 (21+) 9:30pm
tickets: www.ticketweb.com
Showing posts with label the cellar door. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the cellar door. Show all posts
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
show review - rademacher & these united states
let me start out by saying that i'm only review two of the three bands that were actually on the bill. i missed the headliner because i was getting a little tired and didn't want to fall asleep on the drive back from visalia.
this was the first show i've seen at the cellar door, and i like the venue. it's a nice, wide open space, although the stage/dance floor sort of dominates it. if you're not up on the floor, you're looking up @ the bands, which isn't a problem unless it's packed and that area is full and you're not on it.
rademacher opened the show, and malcolm said that the 9:30 time slot was the earliest he'd ever played at the cellar door. ah, the joys of opening. i thought rademacher started their set very well. the first few songs had me enthralled enough that i tweeted "rademacher sounding nice at the cellar door right now." and i meant it, the sound was real nice, the band was playing with good energy. i was really starting to believe a theory i had about rademacher playing stellar shows outside of fresno. and then malcolm flubbed the lyrics to "if u got some magic." and rademacher's set sort of had an ebb and flow of goodness after that. some songs sounded nice and had me loving it, others dragged. i have really enjoyed the addition of jonathan hadden, and i think he is getting more comfortable in the band and is adding to the rademacher sound. the last show i saw, at tokyo garden, really rocked and i think jonathan was a big part of that. tonight, he seemed a litle lacking, and his solo on their newer song lacked. but, i really like that song and want to keep hearing it. one last thing, malcolm on the keyboard: i don't mind it, but it seems to distract him from singing & playing bass. maybe put the keyboard right in front so it doesn't have to be a big transition between playing it and singing. or maybe get a keyboard player?
these united states - i dug these guys, but don't have quite as much input for them because i haven't heard them as much as rademacher. these guys hail from washington, dc and kentucky, although i'm not exactly sure how that works. but, they have a sort of alt-country sound that definitely feels more kentucky than dc. the music had a lot of layers, but that should be expected when you have 3 guitars, a bass and drums. and, one of the guitar players worked a lap slide for quite a bit of the show, which was a nice sound. from the band side, the only issue i had was that the lead singer seemed to mumble his lyrics quite a bit, as well as some of the between song banter and it was a bit difficult to understand. on the cellar door side, there was a lot of feedback during this set, and i know the sound guy was working his hardest to eliminate the squeal but it persisted long enough to be a bit of a distraction to the set.
overall, i enjoyed the show, even if i didn't stay for the main act. the cellar door is a pretty cool spot. i continue to enjoy rademacher's music and hope they continue to work on their sound. and, i'm going to have to look on emusic and itunes for these united states - shoulda bought an album from them last night.
this was the first show i've seen at the cellar door, and i like the venue. it's a nice, wide open space, although the stage/dance floor sort of dominates it. if you're not up on the floor, you're looking up @ the bands, which isn't a problem unless it's packed and that area is full and you're not on it.
rademacher opened the show, and malcolm said that the 9:30 time slot was the earliest he'd ever played at the cellar door. ah, the joys of opening. i thought rademacher started their set very well. the first few songs had me enthralled enough that i tweeted "rademacher sounding nice at the cellar door right now." and i meant it, the sound was real nice, the band was playing with good energy. i was really starting to believe a theory i had about rademacher playing stellar shows outside of fresno. and then malcolm flubbed the lyrics to "if u got some magic." and rademacher's set sort of had an ebb and flow of goodness after that. some songs sounded nice and had me loving it, others dragged. i have really enjoyed the addition of jonathan hadden, and i think he is getting more comfortable in the band and is adding to the rademacher sound. the last show i saw, at tokyo garden, really rocked and i think jonathan was a big part of that. tonight, he seemed a litle lacking, and his solo on their newer song lacked. but, i really like that song and want to keep hearing it. one last thing, malcolm on the keyboard: i don't mind it, but it seems to distract him from singing & playing bass. maybe put the keyboard right in front so it doesn't have to be a big transition between playing it and singing. or maybe get a keyboard player?
these united states - i dug these guys, but don't have quite as much input for them because i haven't heard them as much as rademacher. these guys hail from washington, dc and kentucky, although i'm not exactly sure how that works. but, they have a sort of alt-country sound that definitely feels more kentucky than dc. the music had a lot of layers, but that should be expected when you have 3 guitars, a bass and drums. and, one of the guitar players worked a lap slide for quite a bit of the show, which was a nice sound. from the band side, the only issue i had was that the lead singer seemed to mumble his lyrics quite a bit, as well as some of the between song banter and it was a bit difficult to understand. on the cellar door side, there was a lot of feedback during this set, and i know the sound guy was working his hardest to eliminate the squeal but it persisted long enough to be a bit of a distraction to the set.
overall, i enjoyed the show, even if i didn't stay for the main act. the cellar door is a pretty cool spot. i continue to enjoy rademacher's music and hope they continue to work on their sound. and, i'm going to have to look on emusic and itunes for these united states - shoulda bought an album from them last night.
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