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August 09, 2007
Neon Weekend: Saturday Night
photos by Devon Banks
I was able to honestly say in my recap of the first night of our most recent Neon Lights happenings, that my write up was almost a month after the fact. Now, semantics demand that I note the full month's worth of desk calendar pages that have fallen in the span of my sloth. But we all need closure, damn it.
So again with the subjective proud parent account. Again with the images of a night well spent. Again with the document of Neon Lights come and gone...
Botany Bay
The thick throng of early on lookers for Botany Bay's debut performance likely had alot to do with singer Eric Schwortz's other band, the Secret Life of Sofia. Putting on the singer songwriter poncho served our man well, however, as a full band fleshed out the strong melodies of the demo tracks that had been the new group's only known thumb print to date. If we weren't omniscient towards the details of our own little pet event, there'd be no way you could convince me that this particular configuration had never graced a stage but ours.
Tacks, the Boy Disaster
Though most of the bands on the bill had some connection to the hipster oasis of Austin, TX, the only group to legitimately rep the Lone Star was Tacks, the Boy Disaster. Whether home town pride or just sheer professionalism dictated the spot on performance, I do not know. Evan Jacobs wailed from his keyboard perch, never letting a little thing like immobility hamper some truly convicted energy. Though the songwriting is more restrained and less aggressively optimistic than the tunes of Jacobs' old outfit the Polyphonic Spree, hints of that band's euphoric swells could be detected within. But they would always tip toe back from those heights to a more grounded, real place. Quite an impressive introduction to Brooklyn, boys.
Via Audio
When Via Audio said that their performance would be extra special, they weren't shamelessly over compensating for a missing drummer. First, there was the horn section. Swelling from three to four members or disappearing altogether as needed, the brass gave the band's enthusiastic pop tunes an uncommonly elastic variability. But wait, that's not all! Adorable Neon Lights 1 star Olga Bell returned the guest vocals favor payed to her by Via Audio's own pixie vocalist Jessica Martins, by standing in for a song. As not so slyly eluded to by me in the run up to the show, the most marquee cameo came from Spoon drummer and Via Audio producer Jim Eno. Jim's crisp stick work blended seamlessly with the already slick pop that had been evident all set long, but the band succinctly summed up the thrill of the moment in post Eno banter. "Thank you Jim Eno from Spoon. He's in Spoon. Spoon."
The genial celebratory tone of the performance was infectious, and the overwhelmingly VA partisan crowd was certainly having quite a time. They might not have had the microphones to amplify giddy animal noises towards the close (as the band did) but I cannot prove that they were not making them.
Ola Podrida
By the time David Wingo and company took the stage, the party vibe fostered by Via Audio, in tandem with several hours of drinking, had made the room a touch rowdy. So, when a song is as delicately pretty as "Photo Booth" lead off Ola Podrida's closing set, the general din from the back threatened to creep over the intimate notes from the front. Songs designed for twilight rather than midnight, I guess. Not that the performance sounded anything less than pristine for the attentive majority. "Cindy" 's grander movements even managed to dominate the room's chatty outskirts as well.
As we'd just run the organizational marathon, the sweet slide into gentility was a fine cap.
Thanks to Union Hall for letting us take over for the weekend. Thanks again, to the bands, fans, and all well wishers in general. Thanks in specific to the Rich Girls are Weeping ladies for banning lulls by spinning vinyl all night, and humoring my early eighties fetish with honored James Chance and Orange Juice requests (read their full epic playlist here).
D and I are plotting our next moves as you read. You'll hear about them. Oh, how you'll hear about them.
More photos after the jump...
Posted by Jeff Klingman at August 9, 2007 11:30 AM
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