Country/punk ravers Vandoliers, hailing from Dallas, played a raucous and uplifting show to a crowd of devoted followers at the Tractor Tavern on the last Sunday evening of June. The performance came hot on the heels of Seattle’s yearly Pride parade and capped a month packed with events celebrating the LGBTQIA community.
Vandoliers have amassed a hardcore following of fans over 10 years of touring with a well-deserved reputation for ‘leave it all on the stage’ performances. It was evident that those in attendance were well acquainted with the band’s catalog as they greeted fan faves with rapturous applause and eagerly joined in on their anthemic choruses. The Texas septet’s most current album ‘Life Behind Bars’ has been the object of critical acclaim and they played a healthy selection of the new cuts at the Tractor. Jenni Rose, the band’s charming and magnetic frontperson, has recently embraced her truth as a trans woman as well as addressing problematic substance issues to attain a hard-fought sobriety and she seems positively energized by her life changes. She was a blur of guitar slinging motion and fist pumping abandon from the first note to the last and sported a winning, ear to ear grin the entire time. Her bandmates seemed equally charged and supportive, leading the audience on a thrilling ride through a glorious set that deftly straddled both C&W and punk worlds.
Vandoliers were supported at the Tractor by Adeem the Artist, performing a lovely and affecting set drawn from their most recent release, ‘Anniversary’, as well as selections from their previous two albums. Sadly, Adeem’s performance was marred by a trio of unruly attendees who planted themselves front and center and then made the regrettable decision to harass the artist while they were attempting to perform their set. Why one would spend the time and money to attend a show and then blather through the performance is a mystery to me but I guess we can just add it to the long list of things that I find puzzling about our current reality. After multiple entireties from Adeem to shut up and pay attention (to no avail) the performer finally gave up and ended their set prematurely. I sincerely hope Adeem will return to the Pacific Northwest soon so they can play for a more well-behaved and attentive audience.
