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Due to the fact that it was snowing in mid October, the trip to Cambridge took a bit longer than usual. Luckily for me, my car was brought to the shop, leaving Cynthia to drive and worry about the slippery roads, snow speeding towards her windsheild and lanes that were difficult to see. I sat in the passenger seat and headed the important job of playing entertaining music for the trip.
I could hear a fantastic drum solo as we headed down the stairs and into the comfortably crowded club. As bad as I had to hit the bathroom, I was sucked in and had to get as close as possible to watch ? do his thing as ? hit some random notes and created some intriguing background noise. I just started listening to them, so they sounded relatively new to me, but I heard a funk element that I didn't notice on her album (though I will be listening for it in the future). The funk added a nice touch to their guitar, drums and vocals style blues (yes, be reminded a bit of The Black Keys).
Wanting to familiarize myself with the opening bands, I checked out their respective Myspace pages earlier in the week, quickly finding both bands entertaining and leading to a trip to iTunes for some purchasing. Because of this, I was extra excited to see Amy LaVere. With a voice that brings visions of Neko Case and a soulful melodic sound, I had some high expectations , and didn't end up disappointed. With a guitarist that looked like Seth Rogan if he grew out all his visible hair and a drummer reminiscent of Billy Corgan, they played a beautiful set of laid back, sexy tunes. Everything was loose and played with an undeniable talent (they all had their moments of musical brilliance while not being overly flashy), while her vocals soared across the room in an awe inspiring fashion. They turned things up and kept things down at will, making for a sway ride roller coaster that got some big cheers from the crowd. Remember her name: Amy LaVere.
As the mostly bearded, beer drinking crowd drunkenly awaited Lucero's performance, I was entertaining myself watching two kids essentially cock blocking Burnside and Malcolm. These kids wouldn't leave them alone as they were trying to talk to some girls (who they may or may not have known).
Lucero took the stage and were still playing an hour and a half later when we decided to leave (they were going to play "Nobody's Darlings," but we're old, it was getting late and there was still a long ride awaiting). The stage looked like a party with as many as ten musicians playing at the same time, and they all had as much energy as the excited crowd. They weren't as drunk as the last time I saw them, which made for one of the tightest and most well played set I've seen in a long time. They were rocking on all fours and had the entire crowd dancing like it was the end of the world.