James w/ Ed Harcourt: Photos and a review!

Photos by Jill Rachel Evans

Text by Chris Senn



James

James put on one of the most energetic, engaging and amazing shows I have ever had the privilege to attend last Saturday at the Showbox. The audience interaction was turned up to eleven right from the start as singer Tim Booth started singing the first lines of “Sit Down” from the middle of the crowd. As he made his way towards the stage the rest of the band appeared, taking their positions.

Before breaking into “Tell Her I Said So,” the first of their new tunes from their double EP The Morning After/The Night Before, Booth informed the crowd he was informed a couple of hours before the show that his mother had suffered a stroke. He co-wrote the lyrics with his mother. The performance was turned into a jubilant celebration of life.

The original band looked and sounded sharp. Multi-instrumentalist Saul Davies ran around the stage all night playing the drums, guitar, violin, cowbell and more trying to dodge Booth’s spastic dancing.

They touched on the hits, with the entire crowd singing along to “Laid” and “Sometimes”. Booth dedicated the last song, “Gold Mother,” to his mother as he brought seven dancers up on stage to close the set on a high note. As the audience left, trying to process the awesomeness that just transpired, everyone’s thoughts stayed with Tim and his mother.

Opener, British singer/songwriter Ed Harcourt, looked sharp in his black suit coat and sounded even sharper. As he effortlessly switched between piano and guitar he focused on excellent material from his new album, Lustre. “Haywired,” “Heart of A Wolf” and “Killed By The Morning Sun” were highlights.

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Show Review & Photos: Young the Giant @ the Crocodile

Young the Giant recently opened for the Futureheads at the Crocodile with their second Seattle show in one month. Their first show was with Marina and the Diamonds, which evidences how flexible their sound is to go well with different styles. The quintet comes from California and their songs stream along in entirely enjoyable ways. Not all bands grab me right away live when seeing them for the first time – this band did (as did the other opening band of the evening, So So Glos). Singer Sameer Gadhia is an unusual singer to watch (he uses two microphones and it makes sense as his vocals are complex) and the guitarists and drummer are all sincerely wonderful. I was pleasantly distracted by guitarist Eric Cannata breaking out some fierce dance moves. Their opening set was great, with “I Got,” “My Body,” “Guns Out” and “Cough Syrup” for starters, they’ve got tons of great songs. I’m hoping they come back here as headliners since it would be really cool to see them play a longer set.

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Young the Giant – all photos by Dagmar

Gallery of Young the Giant @ the Crocodile

Photos: Frightened Rabbit & Bad Veins @ the Showbox Market

Scottish indie rock sweethearts Frightened Rabbit were back in town last Thursday, playing their second Seattle show this year, and the first on their month-long tour with Plants and Animals and Bad Veins.  The all-ages show had an excellent turnout that included a good chunk of the local photography community.  While crowd response for the show openers was polite, both Plants and Animals and Bad Veins put on tight, live performances that perfectly translated the warm vibes of their albums.  Even though Frightened Rabbit didn’t take the stage until 11pm, the crowd erupted in cheers of excitement that lasted throughout the set, proving that it’s more than the band’s Scottish accents that draw them such a faithful fan base.  Please enjoy photos of Bad Veins and Frightened Rabbit below.  More photos available here.

Frightened Rabbit

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Bad Veins

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Photos and Review: NOmeansno @ Neumos

No Means No

NOmeansno’s crowd, mostly young, mostly male, and mostly pierced, eagerly anticipated the start of the show. As for me, I had fun just people watching until Rob Wright and Tom Holliston hit their first chords.

These guys rocked as hard and as fast as any band I had ever seen. Their 30 years of experience showed with tight guitar licks, thumping bass notes, and pounding drums. If you have not seen NOmeansno, do so but be prepared for some tattoos, some spikes, and some hardcore slam dancing.

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Photographer
John Rudolph

Photos: Reverb Festival 2010

The 4th annual Seattle Weekly Reverb Festival was held on Saturday in venues throughout Ballard. Despite the wet weather and humid indoors, it was an excellent day of celebrating some of Seattle’s favorite local bands of a wide variety of genres including folk, rock, hip-hop and metal.  The day started off with experimental rockers Kinski, followed by some metal by Imperial Legions of Rome, and garage rock by Hobosexual, arguably one of the best acts of the day.  Some folk rock was sprinkled in the mix, including Yuni in Taxico, Kimo Muraki, and Massy Ferguson, the latter of which made a formal announcement that they will be representing Seattle at the Iceland Airwaves Festival.  Due to rain and out-the-door lines, the festival ended rather early with Victor Shade, but still proved to be a fun experience.  See photos of the day’s shows below!  More photos available here and here.

Imperial Legions of Rome

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Hobosexual

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Kinski

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Yuni in Taxico

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Kimo Muraki

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Massy Ferguson

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Victor Shade

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Lisa Dank

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