First time I've ever been to the troubador. Really small and intimate venue. Great place to see a show. Kind of reminded me a shrunken down version of the Metro, shallow and wide. We got there before the doors opened, and waited for will call for a while, but we were still inside well before Marazin took the stage. Never heard of them, but they're a typical four piece, more or less straight forward indie rock. Definitely better than adequate for an opening act, and I'll be checking some of their stuff out on Rhapsody.
Next up was Irving, a five piece out of San Francisco in which everyone sings at some point, and at least three different guys took over lead vocals from time to time. Hard to describe them except to say imagine a band from San Francisco with guys wearing sweater vests and playing sort of California tinged pop, and that's pretty much what you get. They were very good though, and quite honestly, this was one of the better two-opening-act shows that I've ever been to.
Speaking of opening acts, Rogue Wave joins the likes of BRMC, Stereophonics, the High Dials, and number of other bands I can't remember right now that I first saw as opening acts before later seeing them headline. They remind me somewhat of Earlimart, in that their recorded music is fairly mellow and somewhat quiet (give or take a couple of songs), but in concert, they're very upbeat and very loud. Really a terrific band to see in person. Here's my incomplete and out of order setlist®:
- Bird on a Wire
- Publish My Love
- Love's Lost Guarantee
- 10:1
- California
- Are You By My Side*
- Medicine Ball
- Temporary*
- Every Moment
- Kicking the Heart Out
- Sewn Up
- Falcon Settles Me
- Endless Shovel
- Man-Revolution
This was the end of their tour, as Zach mentioned a couple of times, so you could sort of sense that they weren't holding anything back, and they had a sell-out crowd in the tiny room, so there was a lot of energy going in both directions. Considering I had no plans to see any shows while I was home, and this one just fell into my lap, it was definitely worth the few hours. $5.50 for an MGD is a little steep, but other than that, it was an excellent evening.
2 comments:
I didn't know the Troubadour was still around. Used to be the best spot to see some of the lesser known folk bands in the 60's and 70's.
First time I've been there, but I liked it a lot. When I lived out here, I didn't go to many shows because it's such a haul to get anywhere good from Pasadena. In Chicago there's about 7-8 great venues within a few miles of my apartment. But the Troubador was as good as any of them.
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