Twin Forks. The Ballroom Thieves. And then, Juliana Hatfield. One Busy Weekend.
Last weekend was chalk-full of shows. Friday night, I went down to Boston for an "early" show at the Middle East (which is a venue I used to frequent in my early 20s for hardcore or emo shows). This time around was not much different. The night started with a decent, indie band from Minnesota, The Social Animals, followed by a great solo set from the former lead singer of Augustana, Dan Layus, but the headliner was the draw for me- Twin Forks (which features Dashboard Confessional and Further Seems Forever mastermind Chris Carrabba), an Americana/folk band from the singer/songwriter who uses this as a vehicle to write "happier" tunes with some friends and his cousin behind the drums. I saw Twin Forks a couple of years ago when they opened for someone and I was blown away by their set. So, I listened to their one album over and over. Thankfully, they are working on a new album and played a few new songs on this night, as well as covers.
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(Steve Earle cover)
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(Band of Horses cover)
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(Cory Branan cover)
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(Violent Femmes cover)
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Dan Layus' solo stuff is definitely worth checking out, too.
And the Social Animals, an upcoming band whom I hope we will see and hear more from. Covering Prince is a hard hard thing to do, but with their version of "When Doves Cry" the crowd really got behind them, especially with the guitar solo.
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Saturday, I traveled down to Portsmouth, NH (which is only about a 40-minute drive from Portland) to see a great "small" band, The Ballroom Thieves, who've quicker become one of my favorite bands I want to see become bigger. They've opened for Lake Street Dive, as well as played headlining shows like this one. Saturday night, they were playing at a great small venue called 3SArtspace, which has a great space for the sound to carry. An old Portland and Portsmouth native, Dan Blakeslee opened the night with his great twangy-alt-country sound.
The Ballroom Thieves never ever disappoint.
And Dan Blakeslee---
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Sunday night, I went back down to Boston (I know, a lot of driving for one weekend, but all in the name of live music means it's totally worth it) for Juliana Hatfield (whom I saw a couple of years ago as she reunited with one of her bands The Juliana Hatfield Three), but is someone that I've never seen play "solo" and thought it was about time, since she's just put out a new album, but knew enough to play older songs, especially since I've loved her since the early '90s. I always thought she was one of those artists who should've been much bigger and more widely known, but also never really made music for the fame and fortune, in fact, she's been producing and releasing music on her own for the last decade and a half, I believe. Unfortunately, her set was rather sub par as far as energy and she just did not seem to be into playing as maybe she would've been years ago. She's a Cambridge native and can be seen around town and maybe she was a bit disappointed that the show wasn't sold out, since it was in her hometown. Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that the opening band, Weakened Friends (one of my favorite local bands nowadays) put on a blistering set that was loud and unbelievably amazing!
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(The Juliana Hatfield Three song)
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(Creedence Clearwater Revival cover)
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- Encore:
The Weakened Friends:
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- ("Mean Anything")
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- (Unknown)(new song)
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