Bon Savants/Lake Trout/Editors @ Paradise

It was a good show: consistent, as my companion point out. I don't think I'd been to a show with two openers where both of them were good.

Bon Savants were good, but no better than that. They drew a pretty decent crowd for a first opener, seeing as they're local, and announced that guitarist Kevin is leaving; their sound edged upward in my estimation for the whole set, which is always a good thing.

Lake Trout was the second opener of the night, and the big surprise; the second-opener slot is usually death, if only because at that point everybody's tired of listening to people who aren't the headliners. But they were sharp and engaging; their fondness for cyclical guitarwork reminded me of Tool in its lighter moments, and the wandering construction of some of their songs reminded me of Mogwai. Accidentally bought their next-to-newest CD, and there's a big difference between the two: part of it of course might be production values, but their sound has gotten more layered and focused since then.

Lake Trout - Riddle (from YSI), off of their 2005 CD Not Them, You




And of course, Editors. They're good. Everybody knows they're good. It's clear they're good from the show, and it was probably the most enthusiastic audience I've seen--there was actually a stage dive and brief crowd sufing, before security collared the guy and hauled him off. But . . . it's not my thing. Too much cool rockstar posturing. Tom Smith (the vocalist) looked like he'd either taken too many floppy drugs or was doing the last stage of the peepee dance (which is called "Oh . . . too late")--although I sort of doubt that was the impression he was going for--and the guitarist was such a rock star with his skinny jeans, mini-mullet, and pigeon-toed guitar dances. The bassist was the only one who looked like a normal human being, and thus, my favorite.

I do like the occasional song, like "All Sparks," and Editors'll always get props from me for the brilliant acoustic cover of the Gorillaz' "Feel Good, Inc.," but mostly they're just not a band for me.

Editors - All Sparks (from YSI), off of their debut Back Room




Relevant tags: [Music], [Live music], [Bon Savants], [Lake Trout], [Editors]