Sold out! That's what the sign outside of the venue read. I was happy I had purchased my ticket online a good while ago. I assume the party of three that was walking towards The Bodega were disappointed in reading that. But they were considerably late to attend. And so was I. Doors opened at 7:00pm and I got there at around 8:20pm. When I walked into the venue the place was indeed packed. Audience was all sorts of ages, predominately 25s-35s. I moved my way to my usual left side of the stage. I thought I wouldn't make it because it was so packed but a small step here and another small step there...I made it! I also got just on time as Cigarettes after Sex were getting ready to start. This is the first band that I have attended that had visual as part of their performance. They had a screen behind them that showed black and white scenes. Unfortunately I was right in front of the large speaker preventing me from seeing what exactly was being shown. First musical note was strung - they started their gig. First vocal was sung and I was surprised! All this time when I heard the videos I assumed they had a woman singing! It is indeed the lead singer, a male. When he speaks and addresses the crowd his voice is quite deep but when he sings, he has the most gentle of voices! They played all their most popular songs. The crowd new all lyrics and sang along. So did I. |
The band seems quite humble. They didn't say much in between songs. The lead singer did bow after each song they sung and thanked the crowd. I had been waiting to see this band for a long time, ever since I saw they would be headlining at the Dot-to-dot festival in May but then they backed out and played at the Green Man Festival instead. I think I may have had my expectations too high as a result of that. Even though I loved all songs, and knew almost all of them, the gig was a bit monotonous. I didn't feel I derived any more utility from seeing them live compared to just listening to them on my mp3.
Don't get me wrong, they are a great band. Great skilful musicians with music that sticks to your head. But I would suggest they work on their on stage presence. Once they finished their scheduled setlist the crowd clapped for more as we usually do. They sang one last song and then the lights went on. Perhaps they could have indulged us with a couple more songs, we did offer them a sell-out show after all. |
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