| Monday is free night at Spaceland, and this
used to be the night when the least amount of people would show
up. I'd wager that now it is the most popular night at Spaceland.
Although it was quite crowded, the show was still enjoyable
and the crowd was not too intrusive, as Spaceland is a large
open space with several seperate rooms. The stage is a nice
size and is wrapped in sound proofing to propel the sound into
the audience.
The Exit was well into their set to a half-full club when I
arrived. And after catching the last three songs or so of their
set, I'm kinda wishing that I'd have left home earlier. Their
music was a dirty, aggressive emo that kinda had an 80's feel
to it. I couldn't help but think about Rick Springfield when
they were on stage. And trust me when I say it was in a good
way. I know, how can the former Dr. Noah Drake inspire emo and
indie rock to higher levels, but I tell you that this was it.
I base the comparison based on the band's image and the chord
structure used in many of their songs. I will definitely make
the effort to see this band on their next trip through.
Velvet Teen appeared after a short break and began to rock
out. These guys, once again, mix a bit of rock and emo for another
formula to the genre that will not go away. There was nothing
that made the Velvet Teen stand out sandwiched between a surprisingly
good opening act and a well known So-Cal headliner. What, to
me, made Velvet Teen's performance seem average is the basic
punk rock principles employed during songwriting. There was
nothing, musically, to get excited about. The performance itself
was average to good, but how far does that get you really?
Next was Sunday's Best who I've seen many times. I've never
truly been able to get into their music until recently, and
I really like the new batch of songs on The Californian.
These new songs have slightly happier themes and combine with
lyrics that do not hit quite so close to home, and these two
elements combined to make me really like this group. For this
performance, they played all new songs accept one older song
off Poised to Break. Sunday's Best
sounded fine and had no real problems throughout their set.
However, sometimes adversity causes an increase in emotion,
and this is exactly what I found lacking in the night's events.
Maybe the band is too happy and content now. Isn't emo supposed
to be about wearing your heart on your sleeve? Despite the lack
of emotion during this performance, I would recommend a Sunday's
Best show to anyone looking for fun.
The night on a whole was decent. Good sound and a hefty crowd
supporting local artists is a good start, and the music was
nearly spot on across the board as well. Spaceland is a great
free venue every Monday night and there's normally some good
quality acts, such as we had this night. Nothing spectacular
and ear-bending, but worth stepping out for a couple hours.
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