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Swedish American Hall November 11, 2004 Review by Jake Thomas Wow. That’s really the only thought that passed across my brain during the duration of Two Gallants’ set. Yet another in an endless list of local bands that I’ve been meaning to see forever, when I saw they were opening for Britt Daniel I made a point to get there plenty early enough to see their set; and so I did. From the outset I knew I was in for a treat, and the acoustics of the Swedish American Hall couldn’t have made for a better setting. Musically I suppose the follow the tradition of any number of folky storytellers, Dylan probably being the most obvious. But to me, they reminded me of The Pogues more than anything else, minus the tin whistles and Irish accents of course. There was something innately “drinking songish” about all of their tracks…you can almost envision a jolly man with a giant red nose singing these tunes in a run-down pub in Limerick. The crowd was rapt for the entire performance – I’m unsure how many of them walked in there as fans of Two Gallants, but I would venture to guess that many, many, many of them left after that splendid show converted to the Two Gallants. Britt Daniel had some big shoes to fill in following those Two Gallants, but when you have the catalogue of brilliant Spoon songs to pepper your set with, you’re never going to be left wanting. He split his time between new songs and old - previewing most of the new Spoon record that will be released in early 2005 (I think), as well as playing tons of crowd favorites (but not “Car Radio” as I was hoping so desperately for). Having seen him play solo a few months back left me with few surprises, but it was still a fantastic performance. I believe Britt even noted himself at what a successful outing it had been for him, so it wasn’t just the crowd that was having a good time. --- Read our previous Britt Daniel review: April 19, 2004 @ Hotel Utah ©2004 playinginfog.com |