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06/26/10 Bluebird Denver, CO
Discography
06/28/10 In The Venue Salt Lake City, UT 06/30/10 Great American Music Hall SF, CA 07/01/10 Great American Music Hall SF, CA 07/02/10 Echo Los Angeles, CA 07/03/10 Echo Los Angeles, CA 07/04/10 Club Congress, Tuscon, AZ 07/06/10 Jake’s Lubbock, TX 07/07/10 Granada Theatre Dallas, TX 07/08/10 Warehouse Live Houston, TX 07/09/10 Spanish Moon Baton Rouge, LA 07/10/10 Workplay Birmingham, AL 07/12/10 40 Watt Athens, GA 07/13/10 Orange Peel Asheville, NC 07/14/10 Ottobar Baltimore, MD 07/15/10 Music Hall Brooklyn, NY 07/16/10 Bowery Ballroom NY
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Mates of State and Free Energy stopped by Minneapolis for a solid two-show performance at the 400 Bar on June 23rd and 24th. Strangely, before any of the band played, they had a stand-up comedian. Actually, for the 24th, they actually had two stand-up, Mates of State's bus driver (who is obsessed with ALF, apparently) and a comedian by the name of (I think) Sy. I thought the second guy was pretty funny, if you can 'stomach' his jokes about a fat lady ordering a Wendy's double Baconater sandwich. He reminded me a bit of John Mulaney and Jim Gaffigan.
I talked to the employees who were working last night and they told me that it would seem that most of the audience was there to see Free Energy. But tonight, they said that the majority of the audience seems to be for Mates of State on account that the show was sold-out (although I suspect it probably had something to do with the various media appearances from the day before). Personally, being in the front of Free Energy set, I can tell you that it really, really felt that the audience were mostly Free Energy fans. Perhaps their strong audience following might be because Free Energy was originally a Minneapolis band called Hockey Night.
Anyway, looking around at their fans, I was surprise to see that most of them were singing along, considering that Free Energy seems like a fairly new band. I'll admit the band's style of music and songs are quite catchy and fun, but then again, I had that feeling when they came on stage with their adopted theme song of The Rockford Files (man, that song rocks).
They didn't really play that long, perhaps only six songs, but all the songs were tight. I felt that they should have ended their set with the easy to follow "Bang Pop" song (their chorus is easy to remember: "bang, bang, pop, pop"). Easily their best song.
Mates of State came on stage nearly 11pm, which was about the same time last night. I thought it would be just the duo, Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel, but they actually had a trumpet and guitarist. The two additional band members actually add a lot to their live set, although they did leave for breaks every so often whenever a song didn't require a more guitar backup.
I'll give them this: they really love playing other people's songs*. They did at least three cover songs, including an odd version of Belle & Sebastian's "Sleep Around the Clock". Although not as ill-conceived as their attempt at "Every Rose Has a Thorn", the timing and rhythm of their B&S cover song sounds all wrong - but I think that's how they preferred it.
During the show, Jason stayed mostly on drums and Kori switch between her Korg keyboards. There was a moment when Jason actually joyed Kori's side, singing Tom Wait's "Long Way Home". See photo below.
If you're looking for a band to see, check out Mates of State and Free Energy in your town. Although the two bands may be a different kind of music, it's a good bill.
* PS I later found out that they've actually recorded ten cover songs for their digitally released album, Crushes, so it made sense that a lot of their songs were covers. As a cover lover, I'll have to try and buy the album, although I've had issues with trying to buy from topspin.net (their popup window just display a black screen). Flash sucks on my computer, and I run a lot of anti-scripting plugins, as I'm paranoid.
♥ Free Energy |
Anyway, looking around at their fans, I was surprise to see that most of them were singing along, considering that Free Energy seems like a fairly new band. I'll admit the band's style of music and songs are quite catchy and fun, but then again, I had that feeling when they came on stage with their adopted theme song of The Rockford Files (man, that song rocks).
They didn't really play that long, perhaps only six songs, but all the songs were tight. I felt that they should have ended their set with the easy to follow "Bang Pop" song (their chorus is easy to remember: "bang, bang, pop, pop"). Easily their best song.
Mates of State came on stage nearly 11pm, which was about the same time last night. I thought it would be just the duo, Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel, but they actually had a trumpet and guitarist. The two additional band members actually add a lot to their live set, although they did leave for breaks every so often whenever a song didn't require a more guitar backup.
I'll give them this: they really love playing other people's songs*. They did at least three cover songs, including an odd version of Belle & Sebastian's "Sleep Around the Clock". Although not as ill-conceived as their attempt at "Every Rose Has a Thorn", the timing and rhythm of their B&S cover song sounds all wrong - but I think that's how they preferred it.
During the show, Jason stayed mostly on drums and Kori switch between her Korg keyboards. There was a moment when Jason actually joyed Kori's side, singing Tom Wait's "Long Way Home". See photo below.
♥ Mates of State
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If you're looking for a band to see, check out Mates of State and Free Energy in your town. Although the two bands may be a different kind of music, it's a good bill.
* PS I later found out that they've actually recorded ten cover songs for their digitally released album, Crushes, so it made sense that a lot of their songs were covers. As a cover lover, I'll have to try and buy the album, although I've had issues with trying to buy from topspin.net (their popup window just display a black screen). Flash sucks on my computer, and I run a lot of anti-scripting plugins, as I'm paranoid.
06/26/2010 18:17:49 ♥ vu (
) ♥ matesofstate.com♫myspace♫twitter♥freeenergymusic.com♫myspace
