It was 6:45 pm when our taxi dropped us off at the Regent Street Retreat to enjoy a Newcastle Brown Ale before the Cold War Kids/Tokyo Police Club/Delta Spirit show that was to take place next door at 8 pm. As we sat relaxing in the pool hall ambiance of the Regent Street Retreat, I couldn't help but notice the moppy haired kid sitting behind us digging into what looked like a really tasty burger.
"I bet he's in one of the bands," said Felicia, who has been band-spotting ever since she saw a member of Sigur Ros in Milwaukee from the window of Mo's Cucina.
"Nah," I said to her. "This kid looks like he's in film school or something."
Photo: Tokyo Police Club's Greg Alsop [far right] digs into a different sandwich (courtesy of paperbag records). Guy must like sandwiches.
We finished our Newcastles and headed into the venue to pick up some Merch and continue our drinking in the venue's bar. It wasn't until an hour later that I realized the skinny kid eating his burger behind us before the show was in fact Tokyo Police Club drummer Greg Alsop, who not too long ago was pursuing a degree in Radio and Television arts. Well, at least I was close with the film school guess.
We hung out at the bar inside The Annex for what seemed like an eternity waiting for a drink, a sign of things to come for the rest of the night as I would later find out in my pursuit of drinks. I never did see Ryan of Muzzle of Bees; his red hair is usually pretty easy to spot in a crowd that size, so I hope he made it to the show.
Eventually our friends Grego and Nate showed up and we headed over to the stage to secure our spot next to the giant blue pole some 15 ft from the stage, which stands just above ground level, very appealing to anyone in the first couple rows of the audience. We were about two people deep, so it was a nice spot to stand, especially considering we had some really cool, mellow kids in front of us the whole time (shoutout to you, friendly, black-haired kid who had never heard of Veritas Lux Mea). I think Laura did a good job in describing the venue when she said,
"the annex is dirty and small and [ I ] just love it. and when i say small, i mean it's definitely one of those venues where the band members come out and watch the other bands play which is always entertaining to say the least. i love that the stage is so close to any place you stand and that the bar is located close enough to hear the music. it also has pretty nice bathrooms near the stage which is always a plus."
Photo: The four of us pre-show, already excitedWhen Delta Spirit took the stage, the first thing I noticed was that lead singer Matt Vasquez was wearing a retro Chicago White Sox jacket that looked about 20 years old and a size or two too small for my comfort. Today, I find the jacket appearance strange considering Matt shares his name with Detroit Tigers minor league team pitcher Matt Vasquez.
Photo: Delta Spirit lead singer Matt VasquezI was thoroughly impressed with Delta Spirit's performance and continually remarked to my friends how great they sounded. Vasquez's vocals were dead on and dripping with a sort of raw energy that permeated the performance of every band on the bill that night.
Going through standouts like "Streetwalker" and "Crippler King," the band energized the crowd and got the night off to a great start. Although many people there had never heard of Delta Spirit before that night, many more left in awe of their opening act.
A break in the action allowed me to run to the bar and get a Spotted Cow in preparation of Tokyo Police Club's sure-to-be-blistering set. It was during that time I realized the place had gotten considerably more crowded.
Photo: Tokyo Police Club lead singer/bassist David MonksIn describing Tokyo Police Club's performance, I refer back to the lyrics for their song "Cheer It On," which has the great line "Caught the fever that's spreading." From the time they picked up their guitars until the time they put them down again, Tokyo Police Club ran through a blitzkrieg of their songs, most only lasting two minutes or so. My friend Grego said they must have gotten tired of writing the songs halfway through and just decided to end them. He's a funny guy.
As they opened their set, sure enough, there was the burger kid behind the drums, slamming away at the cymbals and drums as hard as he was digging into that 1/3 pounder before the show. That feeling of "ah-ha!" quickly switched to a temporary depression and I immediately felt old when I realized I was probably older than every member in the band, and a good majority of the crowd as well --- but I didn't let that stop my from bobbing my head and stamping my feet to the thronging sound of Tokyo Police Club's energetic set.
Photo: Tokyo Police Club guitarist Josh Hook lays down the licks at The AnnexI agree with Laura, who said "there songs are filled with adrenaline and that definitely came through in the live performance." Their percussively emphasized set only added to the all-around energy of the show, which catalyst Delta Spirit had ignited with their set, and was, dare I say, the most raw and rawkish of the night. To quote rock deity Mick Jagger, “Anarchy is the only slight glimmer of hope,” and the anarchy provided by Tokyo Police Club's set paved the way for hope-inspiring Cold War Kids to take the stage.
The venue had become a swarm of sweaty indie-loving bodies and intrigued college students in from the cold by the time the Cold War Kids took the stage. I had given up fighting back and forth to retrieve beer at this point and instead took in the elixirs that Cold War Kids providing with their music.
I love how fellow Wisconsin music blogger Kyle Pfister of I'm Just Saying Is All poetically described the Cold War Kids for The Isthmus:
"In Madison music terms, The Cold War Kids approximate the honest energy of Sleeping in the Aviary without sacrificing the pop appeal of The Pale Young Gentlemen. The vocals are blatant and confrontational, with lyrics that are spouted in a style that is either drunken or Texan. Chords are simple, choruses are shoutable, dust is palpable, and raw originality is scraped off their boots and flung at the full moon."In truth, there was a lot of poetry about the Cold War Kids performance last night. As Kyle says,
"Guitars jangled like rings of keys, lyrics rose like hopeless wails, piano benches were stomped upon, and the crowd's mood was modulated with a series of intensifying, fist-pounding beats."
The noticeable difference in the Cold War Kids performance versus the other two acts was the way they were able to capture the energy of their songs despite having a more chilled down, subdued performance style. It was evident that the band had discovered another level not yet achieved by the bands that played before them, similar to the bridge in definition that I noticed between Architecture in Helsinki and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! in Minneapolis.
Photo: Cold War Kids lead singer Nathan Willett croons to the crowdDelta Spirit was emotional, Tokyo Police Club was rawly energetic, but the Cold War Kids were the coup de grace of that indie pretentiousness which pseudo-independent artists and hipster fans perpetuate with their exclusiveness and detachment from the crowd and media. The Cold War Kids, and their symbiotic energy relationship with the bands before them and with the crowd at their feet, took on the very definition of independent music at its finest during favorites such as "Hospital", "St. John," and "Hang Me Up to Dry."
Sweat glistened and gleamed off of guitars and the crowed pulsed and ebbed to every rhythmic beat coming from the stage. It was without a doubt one of the most involved performances I've ever been a part of. J.Bro captures that feeling in full when he says about the Cold War Kids performance "It was musical anarchy - awesome, awesome musical anarchy."
Photo: Cold War Kids guitarist Nick Kinsey sweating through the setPerhaps the finest moment of musical anarchy of the evening was the when the Cold War Kids were joined on stage by members of Delta Spirit for a collaborative "Broken Social Scene" of indie rock gala. As Kyle put it so eloquently,
"The set list unfolded as expected until the song "Saint John," when opening band Delta Spirit seized the stage with an auxiliary percussion choir straight out of an alt-county junkyard (trash can lids, tambourines, maracas, and wooden crates). The crowded stage virtually rioted in cooperative creation of the complex, passionate song and established the definite pinnacle of the show."
Photos: Delta Spirit joins Cold War Kids on stage for a rousing rendition of "St. John."VIDEO: Check out a 60 second clip of Cold War Kids w/Delta Spirit singing "St. John."
Video note: Audio is terrible, video quality is decent. Just something to give you a feel for the performance.
The anarchistic bliss of "St. John" was followed by an ever so enchanting cover of Nick Cave's "New Morning." Whether intentional or not, the cover truly encapsulated the feeling I had some 30 minutes later when I finally walked out of the venue en mass with the rest of crowd and headed over to Greenbush Bakery for our fill of sugar and fat, our PG-13 substitute to a cigarette after sex.
Photo: Nate sells sugar and love at the Greenbush BakeryThe final lines of "New Morning" usher in a feeling of hope one feels after such a brilliant show, one that dismisses the idea that "rock is dead" and music is simply respawning itself over and over without originality:
Thank you for giving
This bright new morning
So steeped seemed the evening
In darkness and blood
There'll be no sadness
There'll be no sorrow
There'll be no road too narrow
There'll be a new day
And it's today
For us
-Nick Cave, "New Morning"
And on a night full of discovery, anarchy, and raw energy, the indie Ghidorah-like lineup of Delta Spirit, Tokyo Police Club, and Cold War Kids provided a warm respite from the cold with hot tunes and one of the better back-to-back-to-back performances I've ever seen, one likely to kindle a fire in every music lover's heart in attendance for years to come.
Check out some Cold War Kids and Delta Spirit tunes in Thursday's post.
Download some live Tokyo Police Club tracks here.
Flickr photo set from Scott for the Cold War Kids and Delta Spirit in Lawrence, Kansas.
After the show...
Girls love Greenbush donuts...
...and we love Jaeger bombs at State Street Brats!Plus One Contest Winner
Last but not least, congratulations to Nathan Richardson, the winner of the Plus One Contest here at Veritas Lux Mea. Nathan will be receiving a copy of the new Albert Hammond Jr CD, the Robbers on High Street’s EP, and Midnight Movies’ new 7inch that comes out in the Spring. Believe it or not, Nathan was the only one who entered! I guess he's the only one around here that likes free music.