A couple of good shows

Finally made it up to the Waiting Room this week, twice in fact. Tuesday saw my rookie excursion for some Man Man and I didn't really know what to expect except for maybe mayhem. And that's pretty much what I got. When the band hit the stage the wore all white and there were instruments absolutely everywhere! All of the band's members played several instruments throughout the night performing music that was described to me as The Decemberists on crack and I'd say that's a pretty fair assessment. At one point the singer, who goes by Honus Honus, poured some water into a small metal bowl and threw a spoon into the bowl for the desired sound. The crowd of maybe 100-150 people ate it up. Everyone was jumping around and surprisingly more than a few people knew the words to the songs. Very impressive.

Thursday was another fun night. After a rollicking good, if not at some points scary, time at the Bemis Center's annual Slide Jam I made my way down to The Waiting Room for some Eagle*Seagull action. They just got back from a pretty extensive European tour and man are they tight! They were missing some equipment prior to the set so I hope they found it, but they didn't play anything from the album that has been released, but they did play three songs I had never before heard performed live.

I grabbed a set list from Eli (vocals) after the show and what the sound of that band has become is going to take them places for sure. Tim McMahan of the Omaha Reader had this to say about the band's performance:



"Just returning from a lengthy European tour, Eagle*Seagull was road-hardened last night, and maybe a bit road weary. I think I've mentioned before that they seem to be evolving into a Franz Ferdinand-style dance band. That certainly wasn't evident during the first couple songs, which bore the same piano-driven ensemble feel that can be heard on their debut. But as the night wore on, the back-beat dance grooves kicked in. There were at least three songs that could -- and should -- be career-defining club hits (and that will likely be on their new album), including a simple dance number with the line "We came to dance" that will eventually find itself onto a lot of mix tapes (if that new record is ever released). Their other highlight was the set-closer, a love-song anthem with a killer chorus that was angelic."

I don't think I'll make it to any shows this week but Antibalas is playing Knickerbocker's Friday if anyone is interested.