Eric and I took Natalie to Merriweather last Friday. We took Natalie because she likes Shark Attack by Grouplove and Merriweather is a fairly kid-friendly venue, and it was a Friday night show, so she could stay up late. I wanted to go to this show because I love Typhoon's recorded music and Eric and I remembered a Black Cat show of Grouplove as one of the best concerts of our life. Plus, I remember Eric accidentally seeing Portugal The Man at Freefest and saying he liked them. So win-win-win on all the acts. Didn't quite work out that way, though.
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| Typhoon, Merriweather, 9-12-14 |
First,
Typhoon was very good, but we arrived late due to traffic and me getting stuck at work later than usual. They have a dozen or more people in that band, so every day they stay together is a blessing, in my opinion. I've seen them live once before downstairs at 6th and I Synagogue. Both times I felt that the recorded music was superior to the live. I also don't quite understand why there are SO many duplicate instruments in a band where a great deal of the music is quiet. I thought extras of the same instrument were for volume. The band was casually dressed in jeans and Ts and didn't really have any sort of stage show. I honestly don't remember any banter in the half of the set I saw. Still, I liked them best of the three acts that night.
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| Portugal The Man, Merriweather, 9-12-14 |
After Typhoon, I went to the box office and to get food. While I was gone, lawn seats were invited to fill in the back of the pavilion, so I met Eric and Natalie substantially closer to the stage to see
Portugal The Man. They had a very psychedelic, trippy screen and laser light show, and they sang in falsetto for most of the songs. I think they did some covers, but for all I know they were covering themselves from a decade ago. I really don't follow this band at all. I was very confused about what I thought I remembered from Freefest and what was on stage. Maybe I've mixed up Freefest band names in my head, but the shows where entirely different. Last time, I remember "guy" music, not a bunch of falsetto. I remember at least a little energy on stage - not just standing around letting the lights do the work. I'm 50-50 on whether it was the same band. I know pretty much none of their music, so it wasn't all that great for me. There was a lot of fake smoke for Portugal and later Grouplove.
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| Grouplove, Merriweather, 9-12-14 |
Grouplove come on last, and I was expecting a LOT. When Eric and I accidentally saw them opening for some other band a few years ago, we were blown away. I can't remember anything about the band we were there to see, but Grouplove is vivid in my mind. It was a band with 3 front men: the male vocalist, the female vocalist, and the bassist. Each was mesmerizing to watch. Incredible charisma, entirely unforgettable. The nonsense lyrics of their songs did not reduce my respect for their talent at all. So that's what we were expecting.
Unfortunately, one of those three characters, Sean Gadd - the bassist, left the band earlier this year. And the male lead, Christian Zucconi, looks a lot more mainstream with his buzz cut hair. The female lead Hannah Hooper has developed an ever better stage presence, though. They've gone high-budget with tons of light effect and still have a lot of energy on stage, but it was diluted compared to the Black Cat experience. Fun, but not amazing. We were happy to leave before the encore.
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