Once again, as we all know, I'm a complete concert snob. I'm sick of most "popular" music out there today because half the artists out there don't have enough actual talent without the help of autotune to deserve to be on the radio in the first place. I'm always a tad weary of live shows just because these days you never know whether the artist will actually "live up" to their record or even sound halfway decent for that matter. So, as we made our way to New Orleans, LA last night (which terrifies the piss out of me anyway), I tried to keep my expectations fairly moderate...
Ryan Star (http://www.rstar.net/) was the opener for Thriving Ivory, who we'd seen previously last July. When we decided to go to the show, I downloaded his music from Amazon so I could get feel for it and because I like to try to somewhat know the music before I see someone live. I was really impressed with his songs, and especially his voice. I'd compare him to Adam Pascal (of RENT fame), which in my humble opinion, is a very, very good thing. I ended up listening to him all week long leading up to the show and would highly recommend both of his albums for a mixture of rock, great vocals, catchy beats and even some humor. ANYWAY, let's try to stay on topic here. The show. I was actually really excited to see his set and hear him live. The guy was FAN-TASTIC. Not ONLY did he sound even better than on the record, but he is a really great performer on top of it. I loved the interaction with the crowd (which was a weird, fairly quiet crowd IMO), I loved his band, I loved how all of the songs seemed harder and louder than I was expecting. I don't really see how I could have been more impressed (except for maybe getting to watch him play even longer). I would highly recommend that you ALL check him out and you know that means a lot coming from me. He continues on tour through Texas and into LA among other places and I KNOW some of y'all are there. So do yourselves a favor and don't miss it...my concert ticket was like 12 bucks or some shit. It's a win-win.
Frankly, I thought that his set was SO good, I was doubting that Thriving Ivory would be able to "top" it. As I mentioned briefly, we had seen them previously last July in Birmingham, AL. Though I'd also downloaded their music beforehand, I wasn't as impressed with their live show. I guess the venue was having some sound issues and whatnot, but I just didn't really feel it. It wasn't a bad show, just not the best show in the world. But, as we don't really get a lot of shows down our way and it's a band we both know, we decided to make the trip over to NOLA from Mississippi and check it out. I'm SO glad we did. This show was 100% better than last year's. The lead singer was very good, and though his voice live sounds a little more gritty than on the record to me, I actually like it better. The band is so good I couldn't decide whether to watch him sing, the guitar player, the piano player or the drummer...it was like whiplash from trying to watch everything all at once. They played three new songs that will be on their album (coming out September 14th) and I loved each of them, specifically the first one that was piano-heavy (which you all know I love). Of course I can't remember any of the names, but I can tell you I'll definitely be picking that up. They even seemed to interact with the crowd more than I remember from last year. I was very, very impressed, and would without question go see them again.
To wrap up...obviously, a really great concert experience. Two really fucking fantastic acts, and they each played about an hour which was also great (despite that we had a 1.5 hr drive home and had to be up at 4:30am to go to the airport). That being said, we didn't stay to "say hi" but both bands did meet n greets after the show as well, which is always cool of people to take the time to do. Well worth it though. Seriously, y'all....if these guys are playing near you go check it out; especially if it's together.
Ryan's Dates: http://www.rstar.net/tour-dates/ (also playing w/ Justin Nozuka)
Thriving Ivory's Dates: http://www.thrivingivory.com/#/tour
If you can't see them live, I still highly recommend both albums. If you like my usual music rec's, I think you'll be impressed too. Thanks for reading. xx
No comments:
Post a Comment