Man Man, Murder By Death, Samantha Crain at Black Cat Feb 7, 2013

Man Man at Black Cat 2-7-13

Murder by Death at Black Cat 2-7-13

I was super excited to finally see Man Man live, though I didn't really do my homework before the show, so I was surprised by how experimental their back catalogue is. It was still really fun though. Not weird experimental, but unexpected influences experimental. I liked it, but it wasn't the kind of show you could sing along to. The performers had a lot of energy but couldn't move around on stage much because of the large keyboards that dominated the stage. That didn't bother me though. What did bother me was how late their set started, I left at 12:10 and I think they still had a lot more material.

Murder by Death was really fun live, though I'm listening to their recorded music right now and am unimpressed. Worth seeing live, though. They use a cello and accordian, the singer has a deep voice, the lyrics are funny depressing demented. The singer engaged the audience well.

Samantha Crain had a great voice and did an acoustic set. None of her songs made an impression on me, but she sounded really good.

I had the worst parking experience that evening. 45 minutes to find a spot. I notice that TONS of streets now have zone 1&2 only until midnight signs on them. Those signs weren't up last spring. I ended up parking near 9:30 Club. It makes me want to take metro to shows, but I'd have to miss the main act at Black Cat to do that. I hear there's a pay lot at 14th and U I might try next time.

Verdicts:
Man Man: Good enough live. Worth seeing once.
Murder by Death: Very good live show. Better than their recorded music. Highly recommend.
Samantha Crain: The kind of act that would be better viewed seated in an intimate space.