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Limbeck,
Park & The Progress Though not listed above, the headliners of the evening (well, afternoon) was the Early November. And thus, the show was sold out like a month before, so the onslaught of people packing the club was obscene. What was slightly more alarming was the crowd's age - it has been awhile since I was the close to the oldest at a show. I suppose going to an all-ages show on LI on a Sunday afternoon would precipitate such a situation, but I wasn't ready for it. The bartender told me it was always like this - so future avoidance methods are needed. As I talked to Patrick from Limbeck, the Progress took the stage in all their nerd indie-rockness glory and rammed through a half-hour of songs. Though competent, the Progress failed to bring much to the table. While probably not as extreme, a disgruntled parent at the bar randomly said to me 'these guys are fucking awful.' My response was 'well, maybe more like run-of-the-mill,' where he responded 'that's not a mill I would fucking buy.' You gotta love it. Next up was Park (Lobster Records) from Illinois. Recorded these guys have been impressive on their two full-lengths No Signal and It Won't Snow Where You are Going. So I was searching for relief from the dribble earlier displayed. Unfortunately, this was not coming. It was not that they played bad or the sound was off or anything like that. It was just they weren't very inspiring as a live band. By trying to bring the songs to life they forgot to bring any life to the show. The foursome for the most part just played without enveloping themselves in the moment. As mentioned above I caught up with Patrick from Limbeck when I immediately entered. This was the last day on one of their infinite number of tours before two weeks off and then back again on tour as they make their way home to Orange County. Patrick said they were hoping to release an acoustic version of their last record Hi, Everything's Great along with a DVD or enhanced CD of tour footage they had collected over the past several months. Though the Limbeck are the nicest guys in the world and their record was phenomenal - our 3rd best of 2003 - I was hoping they wouldn't fall prey to the trend that day. The word I would use to describe Limbeck's set would be 'stunning.' They immediately showed they were going to rock the house to no end. First thing, raise you hands in the air and move your fingers - lame but effective. The foursome then proceeded to plow through their forty-minute set consisting of songs off Hi, Everything's Great while always keeping the energy level high. More importantly, they seemed to be having a lot of fun - like playing live was what the lived for. As is almost never the case, Limbeck made the songs off the record sound even better live. This spectacle caused many in the previously ignorant crowd to remake that these guys were awesome - which will likely propel them upwards and onwards. You know how these things work with teenagers - they tell one person, who tells another, who goes on chat rooms, emails, phones, text messages, smoke signals, etc., etc. Doghouse is doing a new printing of the record and I think they may have to double that order. There are several things that were learned today. First, I'm getting too old to cavorting around at all ages shows. Second, though I've read and heard all about how the emo/hardcore/indie amalgam is the new mainstream, the sheer number of people at the show for the Early November was baffling. Now I believe it is truth, which is bad because there will soon be just as quick of a backlash against it - though it exists already - causing the style to thin out eventually - only to be brought back several years later. Finally, Limbeck is one of the best bands going right now and deserve much more attention from everyone then they are getting at this time. I think with a few more high profile tours (like with the All-American Rejects) this is likely to happen.
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