Great American Music Hall March 29, 2005 Review by Jake Thomas It seems like I haven’t seen Pedro the Lion in forever, but in reality it’s only been a couple of years probably (ok, I just looked it up and it was nearly a couple of years ago indeed, I guess my memory isn’t as shot as I previously thought). I can’t say that I’ve listened to him much over that time either, but there was definitely a time when he was one of my very favorites. His sound hasn’t changed, I just think my tastes have shifted somewhat, as is prone to happen as you get old and cranky. All that said, he put on a damn good show, probably my favorite performance ever by him and his band – and I’ve seen him a bunch of times. It was a much more rocking affair than previous efforts, and despite my lack of knowledge of the current catalog, I knew almost everything they played anyways. Lots of classics like “Big Trucks”, “that song whose title I forget but it’s about women shaving”, “Priests and Paramedics”, and tons more. Sadly he did not play “Bad Diary Days”, which is not only my favorite song of his but one of my favorite songs period. But still, it made me want to go home and drag out my PtL CDs, and was about a good an opener as I’ll ever see, even if they are normally headliners around these parts. Low, who I’ve also seen tons of time, were the headliners this evening. The place actually emptied out a bit after Pedro, as he seems to have some fanatical fans and it’s not terribly surprising, plus I can’t ever remember griping about a club emptying out anyways (the bands already got their money, if you don’t care about the music then hose off eh). Not unlike the openers, Low also came with a more “rockin’ out” vibe, which fit in well with their new album that came out on Sub Pop earlier this year. “California” is an instant favorite from this record, and it was the second song they played much to my delight. Sadly, no “Over the Ocean” or “The Plan” (and they seemed to ignore “The Curtain Hits the Cast”, my favorite record, entirely), but unless my memory fails me I recall “Sunflower”, “Dinosaur Act” and other favorites that the crowd love to yell at the band. As I have come to expect with this trio of Minnesotans, Low was awesome, Mimi’s voice gave me goose bumps, and Zak Sally was surly as always. Good times all around. --- Check out our previous Low experiences: Review: February 26, 2004 @ Great American Music Hall Review & Photos: November 13, 2002 @ Great American Music Hall Review: April 18, 2001 @ Great American Music Hall Check out our previous Pedro the Lion experience: Review: May 21, 2003 @ Great American Music Hall ©2005 playinginfog.com |