Setlist
Tour Dates
04/03/13 Denver, CO Walnut Room
04/05/13 Salt Lake City, UT State Room 04/07/13 Vancouver, BC Media Club 04/08/13 Seattle, WA Neumos Crystal 04/09/13 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge 04/11/13 San Francisco, CA The Chapel 04/14/13 Indio, CA Coachella 2013 04/16/13 Phoenix, AZ Rhythm Room 04/21/13 Indio, CA Coachella 2013 Read More Little Green Cars
This Dublin-based quintet, currently riding high on the single The John Wayne, counts Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol amongst their biggest fans.
Recently signed to Glassnote/Island, they smartly hired producer
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Here’s a little secret-- Little Green Cars are being driven by minors. As lead Stevie Appleby (vocals/ guitar) put it mid-way into their 60 min. set, “we’d love to join you drinking, but with these black ‘X’s’ on our hands…” The Dublin quintet had at least half the band sporting the underage marks on their hands, but any lack of alcohol was no deterrent to getting a spirited evening from a band driving nowhere but up.
Local singer-songwriter John Mark Nelson capably opened the show with a delicate performance of songs from his previous efforts, “Still Here” and “Waiting and Waiting”, including the locally in-rotation “Reminisce”, as well as new tracks from his upcoming release.
Little Green Cars members all age from 20 to 21, but they’ve already been together more than five years and had the good fortune of producer-of-the-moment Marcus Dravs (Coldplay, Arcade Fire, Mumford and Sons) being behind the boards for their just-released full length, ‘Absolute Zero’ (on Glassnote, which happens to be Mumford’s label as well). While their music comfortably fits under the ‘Anthem Folk’ umbrella, their Irish upbringing prompts a more complex description of their music; marked by soaring five-part harmonies and a nod of inspiration from Americana/rural music blended with elements of Irish music of the past. Fans of The Lumineers, Band of Horses, and Fleet Foxes are encouraged to take a listen and add them to their audio roster.
Starting bravely with the acapella, “Red”, and then adding gentle guitar for “Goodbye Blue Monday”, they immediately owned the room’s attention with their tight choral harmonies and male/female lead vocals from the tall, windswept-haired Appleby and co-vocalist Faye O'Rourke, who can sound like Dolores O'Riordan one song, and PJ Harvey the next. After warning us they would next play louder, a slow building “Angel Owl”, followed by the current single “Harper Lee”, dark with the appropriate lyric "like a crash I wait for the impact", which pricked up the audience with some familiarity.
Next up was a humorous poem-in-progress (or limerick?) from Appleby read from his phone, describing the band’s month-long trek through North America- the madness of SXSW in Austin, getting in a fight, staying warm in Quebec, and now trying to find something to rhyme with Minneapolis. This segued into a rousing “Big Red Dragon”, followed by O'Rourke in front of an emotive “The Kitchen Floor”, then reunited vocals lead by Appleby for “Them”. The main set then ended with the brilliantly titled “My Love Took Me Down To The River (To Silence Me)” and first single “The John Wayne”, of which Appleby remarked, “this might be the one song many of have heard before”, lyrics anthem-ing ‘It’s easy to fall in love, it’s easy to fall in love with you” which seemed to summarize the crowd’s feeling for the band this night.
After a brief walk off stage, the band returned to cheers and shouted requests, Appleby replying, “we don’t take suggestions, sorry”. Choosing to end with “The Consequences of Not Sleeping”, the song was prefaced by the story of Appleby actually not sleeping; forming the song loud enough in his kitchen in the wee hours into first-person camera, that it woke his father but ended up giving him the needed inspiration to finish. Despite their youth, Little Green Cars is currently in the fast lane with a successful North American Tour -a drink in Akron, OH was even named post-show after them... if only they could (legally) try it.
JOHN MARK NELSON
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Little Green Cars members all age from 20 to 21, but they’ve already been together more than five years and had the good fortune of producer-of-the-moment Marcus Dravs (Coldplay, Arcade Fire, Mumford and Sons) being behind the boards for their just-released full length, ‘Absolute Zero’ (on Glassnote, which happens to be Mumford’s label as well). While their music comfortably fits under the ‘Anthem Folk’ umbrella, their Irish upbringing prompts a more complex description of their music; marked by soaring five-part harmonies and a nod of inspiration from Americana/rural music blended with elements of Irish music of the past. Fans of The Lumineers, Band of Horses, and Fleet Foxes are encouraged to take a listen and add them to their audio roster.
Starting bravely with the acapella, “Red”, and then adding gentle guitar for “Goodbye Blue Monday”, they immediately owned the room’s attention with their tight choral harmonies and male/female lead vocals from the tall, windswept-haired Appleby and co-vocalist Faye O'Rourke, who can sound like Dolores O'Riordan one song, and PJ Harvey the next. After warning us they would next play louder, a slow building “Angel Owl”, followed by the current single “Harper Lee”, dark with the appropriate lyric "like a crash I wait for the impact", which pricked up the audience with some familiarity.
Next up was a humorous poem-in-progress (or limerick?) from Appleby read from his phone, describing the band’s month-long trek through North America- the madness of SXSW in Austin, getting in a fight, staying warm in Quebec, and now trying to find something to rhyme with Minneapolis. This segued into a rousing “Big Red Dragon”, followed by O'Rourke in front of an emotive “The Kitchen Floor”, then reunited vocals lead by Appleby for “Them”. The main set then ended with the brilliantly titled “My Love Took Me Down To The River (To Silence Me)” and first single “The John Wayne”, of which Appleby remarked, “this might be the one song many of have heard before”, lyrics anthem-ing ‘It’s easy to fall in love, it’s easy to fall in love with you” which seemed to summarize the crowd’s feeling for the band this night.
After a brief walk off stage, the band returned to cheers and shouted requests, Appleby replying, “we don’t take suggestions, sorry”. Choosing to end with “The Consequences of Not Sleeping”, the song was prefaced by the story of Appleby actually not sleeping; forming the song loud enough in his kitchen in the wee hours into first-person camera, that it woke his father but ended up giving him the needed inspiration to finish. Despite their youth, Little Green Cars is currently in the fast lane with a successful North American Tour -a drink in Akron, OH was even named post-show after them... if only they could (legally) try it.
Little Green Cars at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (04/01/13) |