Confessions of a Merch Girl

Forgive me as it has been too long since my last trip to the El Rey. This weeks holy pilgrimage was to bear witness to Marjorie Fair, The Shout Out Louds, and The Dears. Although to get to the amen right away I will say the night belonged to The Shout Out Louds.

Marjorie Fair came on the stage with a sort of one chord mesmorizing sound I am guessing they were going to build up to kick into something rocking. It was hard to tell though because they had a very distracting light show/projection behind them. The second song picked up, but I was still watching the squirrel on the screen behind them more than feeling the music in the forefront. It was a bit blinding at times and I am of the belief that the audience should never have to look away from your set, and if you are an opening act you should wow the crowd with your talent as rising musicians and keep it fairly raw as far as effects go.

A perfect example of this is the choices The Shout Out Louds made on their stage. They hung a banner that looked a bit like a mast with their name and some seagulls on it, and kept the lights blue and green and only sometimes red so it felt like we were all on some type of ship sailing into a rollicking ocean of a kick-off tour set. If the crowd wasn't there to see them in the first place they were by the second song. His voice begs its way into your head and stays there for days to come. Their single "Very Loud" was a long-awaited treat, and ending the set with "Seagull" (which has a beautiful melody) had everyone swaying their way over to me to make sure and go home with the brand new full length CD.

It seems that The Dears had found themselves with quite a hard act to follow. But the crowd was there and waiting. They had the same stage effects as Marjorie Fair but it wasn't a surprise because we had already seen these intense backlights. They started dead on haunting though and nailed the build up. I couldn't help but think of as a life soundtrack it sounded like walking home alone after a perfect day and feeling like everything was falling into place. The only problem I had was towards the end there were several painful sound effects. Very heavy bass feedback which I can sort of understand as a massive crescendo to a powerful ending, but then they just started playing another song. It didn't feel right and kinda felt like they wanted to make you mad. They started strong, and played maybe twenty minutes and three piercing feedbacks too long.

So that is the way the show went, and if you couldn't be there I am sure I will see you next time. I am going to go say seventy-seven hail rock and rolls!!

Video Links:
The Comeback
Very Loud