I have been impressed with the work of Savannah dreampop act Triathalon, and when they announced a tour i was very interested. Alas, they decided to play in Atlanta on a Monday at 529, of all places. I really wanted to see them perform, but i also have a day job, so this was a big maybe. But then they announced that they were going on early in the night, and when i asked what time on FaceBook, they told me they thought they would be on at 10.
10 pm start time on a Monday is do-able. So i rode my bike home from work and barely beat a rainstorm. I took a nice nap, got up and had some coffee and some dinner.
I got to the club around 9:50, which was right on time as far as i was concerned. The door guy said that he thought the first band would go on at 10:15, and that Triathalon were the second band. Ugh, why does 529 thwart me so?!?! I had already had a cup of coffee, so i was up for a few hours anyway, so i decided to stick it out.
The first band actually went on at 10:18, and they were called Meat. Meat is a local three-piece power pop band. The guitarist/vocalist played in a lovely chiming style that at times referenced Maurice Deebank on those first few Felt albums, and at other times hit the fast pace of Johnny Marr. I really liked his guitar work, which was catchy and lovely and fun.
The bassist and the drummer were pretty good too -- the songs moved along nicely.
However, the vocals were not good. The singer has a voice that is flat and deep, and his style sounded dull in the room. It seems as if he was the vocalist because no one else in the band wanted to sing.
The best parts of the 43 minutes they played were the instrumental sections of the songs. Overall i did not really enjoy their set because of the vocals, but then again, i have seen far worse bands...
Meat cleared the stage and Triathalon, who are a five-piece band and not a trio like some of their press had led me to believe, set up, and all of that happened in about 14 minutes. It was impressively efficient, and appreciated by this rapidly tiring, somewhat older reviewer.
And speaking of which, i was definitely the oldest person in the building. Well, maybe the sound guy was older, but it's too close to tell. And i noticed at this show that about half of the women present (a minority, but this show was not a sausage-fest like so many are) wore shirts that stopped about 3 inches above the waistline of their jeans. Is this the style these days? It looked kind of dumb to me, and i shook my head and was grateful that none of these kids with their stomach bearing shirts were crowding up my lawn. [Brendan's Note: PostLibyan is apparently so senile that he has forgotten that he lives in a condo and does not, in fact, have a lawn! We're contemplating "assisted living" communities, but it's hard to find one that will tolerate Cocteau Twins played at loud volumes 24/7!]
So Triathalon started at about 10:50, which is close to an hour later than they had told me that they would go on. But it was totally worth the wait. They seemed to play most of Nothing Bothers Me, their latest album. Live, the songs were a little faster and just that much catchier.
The interplay between the two guitarists was great to watch, even if both of them did wear their guitars very high. But the guitars chimed against one another with layers of echo and fuzzy distortion.
I stood there, bouncing along happily for a 40 minute set, and loved every minute of it.
There were two more bands on the bill. I don't know who they were and i know nothing about them. I left after Triathalon were done.
By the time i drove home in the rain it was about 11:45, which sucks to still be awake when i have a 9am meeting the next day, but sometimes you just gotta go for it and be tired the next day.
I hope that Triathalon come back and play a weekend night!
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