Tigers Jaw, then Kat Wright and Portland local Katie Katzell...and then TBS/SR John Nolan solo show

March 03, 2018

Tigers Jaw has been an opening band a few times that I've seen them, so when I saw that they were embarking on a headlining tour, which was starting in Portsmouth, at a great small, intimate venue (re: 3SArtspace), I knew I had to make the short 40-minute trip to see them. Their set seemed to need a little bit of work, in regards to building up the energy throughout their setlist, but I really dug their headlining set. They were, of course, focusing heavily on their newest album, "Spin," which is a bit more electronically and poppy leaning, in terms of sound.

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Kat Wright and the Indomitable Soul Band came back to Portland last weekend and put on one hell of a show, which was the end of my school vacation- one of the best ways to spend the end of it. Her band played so tightly and had so much energy, I was sweating. The guitarist has some of the best chops I've heard in "jam" bands of recent. The whole band has a very 1970s era of classic soul/rock sound that is just absolutely refreshing these days.

Local musician Katie Matzell opened the show with her fantastic, mellow, groovy bar-esque sound. My buddy Sean was playing guitar for her this night, as well.

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At the beginning of this past week, I traveled down to Boston and stayed up way past my bedtime, but for a very good reason. The guitarist/singer from Taking Back Sunday and Straylight Run (re: John Nolan), one of the best songwriters and song-crafters of the early Aughts emo scene was playing a solo gig at Great Scott (which, to my own experiences, is known for having "late" shows, which at this point in my life, sometimes I find myself questioning my choices!). This was fully worth it. John Nolan was playing a week or so of East Coast shows to celebrate his 40th birthday. His sister, Michelle DeRosa was the opener for the night, and I just love listening to her voice. She was also in Straylight Run with John, and so I was definitely hoping they'd play some of those songs and I was not disappointed. It was such a great set.