Last night Lawrence said goodbye to a well-loved, alternative rock band that has added its own style and sound to the collection of local artists that fill this town with music. From Quiet Arms, the progressive indie rock band is breaking up, but they left with one last rah, serving fans a final dose of heavy, diverse rock.
The concert was a full-blown music extravaganza with four opening acts keeping the music going for almost four hours. Early birds arriving at 8 p.m. could enjoy the acoustic set of Josh Adkins, the bassist for From Quiet Arms, who has an impressive set of original tunes and incorporated interesting covers into his show. Adkins' songs each have a story to them, inspired by his friends, family and experiences on the road with his band. For one man with guitar, Adkins is good entertainment, and he says his career is just starting.
The first full band to take the stage was Moose Elk, a small, young band full of potential. The experimental bands' thrash-rock guitarist and energetic drummer combined with the lovely vocalist's singing to create a great deal of noise. Not all of it great, but not bad either. The guitarist impliments loops and pre-recorded melodies to back himself up, but it makes for a less-than-impressive experience for the audience. To accent their performance, band members jumped around, did flips and other acrobatics for the crowds somewhat-confused amusement.
The third opener was easily the worst received band of the night, "Ambulance" - pronounced Am-Bue-Lance (good luck finding any website on a band with such an inconvenient and unoriginal name) - drove the crowd off the dance floor, away from the stage, so there were more people crowding the bar than there were looking at the band their entire set. Their mix of noise, off-key chords, "jazz" stylings and incoherent vocals were the epitamy of a bad show. After each song a meager trickle of half-hearted claps followed, proving the audience's disapproval. This was certainly an easy act to follow for the fourth and final opener.
Thee Water Moccasins, a collection of veteran jam-band rockers from Kansas City were easily the best opening band of the night, exhibiting all the qualities of a good alternative jam band. From their aggressive, drum-driven rock songs to lighter, ambient space odesseys following synthesizer and keyboard melodies held the audience captive and sounded like heaven after the previous nightmare on the stage. This exciting show properly warmed the crowd up for the finale.
From Quiet Arms have a wide range of songs, exploring every mood and attitude, from sorrow to joy, anger and nostalgia. For their last show ever, the band gave fans a "Best of" set, including everyone's favorite songs, old and new. From the enticing, rapid-drum beats of "Moon Sets" to the slow, heart-aching vocals of "Maygone", the audience swayed, head-banged and sang along to every hit. Some of the band's best friends for years unknown lined the stage front, filling half of the Granada's spacious dance floor, while more shy listeners watched from afar. Overall it was a fantastic final experience of From Quiet Arms' unique and fascinating style. These young musicians still have a great deal of potential, so with any luck, they will go on to play again in other bands in the future.
This show finished at the surprisingly early hour of 12:30 a.m. Lawrence was still wide awake, with lively bars and other shows going on all over downtown. The Jazzhas was featuring a different sort of concert from their normal experiences. Local Hip-Hop artists passed around a microphone on stage, rapping freestyle to some beats played in the background. For a time, these lyricists, Yes sir, Ryan Force, Benny Kress and DJ Doobious had a relatively active audience, including a pack of party-girls who took the opportunity to shake and dance on stage to the beats. But the excitement quickly died away, for no apparent reason, leaving the rappers alone on the stage, struggling to create original rhymes to the ongoing beats.
For a time this show may have been good, earlier in the night, but by 1:00 a.m. the hip-hoppers were done. None of the rappers on stage seemed capable of putting together a single rhyme that did not repeat the same word to keep the "rhymes" going. When they weren't repeating themselves, literally rapping "I don't know what's gonna come next..." their vocals were entirely unintelligible, rendering their art meaningless. Thankfully they left the stage soon after running out of steam, allowing the few remaining drinkers to enjoy each others company in peace.
Last night was a busy night, but not half as busy as tonight will be:
Mouth is playing at the Jazzhaus with Parts of Speech playing during their set break.
Meanwhile the Summer Camp Festival's battle of the bands is going on at the Bottleneck with Ashes to Immortality, 3 Son Green and Menage Twang.
As if that weren't enough, 40 Oz to Freedom is playing a Sublime tribute at the Granada.
It's a very exciting time to be downtown, so don't miss all the fun!
Comments