Once again, concerts are leaping across venues. This time it was from the Commodore to the Biltmore. Though at least this time I didn’t miss out on my heads up and made the show in ample time.
It was another busy night, as I was asked if I had a ticket already, so I’m assuming the show was sold out. This evening’s cast was made up of The Novaks, followed by the Turbo Fruits, culminating in the headlining Deer Tick. I made it there a bit late, but got to hear 5 songs of The Novaks’ set. They had a classic rock style that had elements from the ‘50s to the ‘80s, and the set ended with a cover of Eddie Cochran’s ‘Somethin’ Else’, which I felt showed just what their style was all about. The crowd was lovin’ the sound and it made for a great way to start the evening. They’re definitely a band you’ll want to listen to if you like that ‘50s rockabilly sound, it’s too bad their set was only half an hour.
Turbo Fruits went up at 10:20, a band from Nashville, Tennessee. They played a mix of southern rock and heavy metal that sometimes even moved into the realm of psychedelic rock on a few of their slower songs. The members of Deer Tick came up on stage to join in on a few songs, since they’ve been touring together for so long. I suppose jamming together just kind of comes with that. They seemed to be having a lot of fun with it, which is always great to see. They played 12 songs and were a really tight group, and as a bonus, there was a crowd surfing frontman playing guitar. Another great band supporting Deer Tick, and another band worth a listen.
Deer Tick hails from Providence, Rhode Island (their new album is Divine Providence), and even though their line-up changes, their style and attitude that they put in their music stays strong. As stated, their new album is titled Divine Providence, and that’s why they’re out on tour with Turbo Fruits.
To my surprise and pleasure, they started out with my favourite song, ‘Ashamed’. It was the best way for their set to start, and everyone loved it and was singing along.
And I mean everyone.
‘The Bump’ from the newest album, and ‘Easy’, another favourite, this time from Born On Flag Day, followed. Already two of my favourite songs by the band had come, and they’d been dead on with their sound. They played ‘Baltimore Blues No. 1’ before getting into songs from their new album, ‘Main Street’, ‘Walkin’ Out The Door’, ‘Chevy Express’, and ‘Clownin’ Around’, which had Turbo Fruits member Kingsley Brock joining on vocals and guitar. They finished up with the new album by playing ‘Funny Word’, to play some brand new songs made for future albums. ‘Mirror Walls’ is a song about a hotel room in Reno that looked like a place where prostitutes came to do their business, and ‘You’re Not Spanish To Me’ made sure to let us know that we were not Spanish in the eyes of John McCauley and Ian O’Neil.
Now it was input time; ‘Art Isn’t Real (City Of Sin)’ or ‘Houston, Tx’?
The right answer was ‘Freebird’, which led to a little solo before they played the song that actually won the poll, which was ‘Houston, Tx’. ‘These Old Shoes’ was another crowd favourite that had people singing along again. I’m not sure what followed that; I’m assumin’ a cover as I didn’t recognize it, but an old live stand-by ‘Smith Hill’ came along with a cover I did recognize, The Replacements ‘Kiss Me On The Bus’.
They then played ‘Walls’ from the newest Tim EP, which is a GREAT song I hadn’t heard before, and then gave me ‘Not So Dense’ as well to keep my love going. ‘Miss K.’ took us back to the new album, and finished up their set.
Encore time!
Started off with a beautiful choice of song, The Beastie Boys’ ‘(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)’. The world lost an extremely brilliant, excellent performer and incredible human being when Adam Yauch passed away, R.I.P. Adam.
Another blast from the past, Bo Diddley’s ‘Who Do You Love?’ gave the night another solid 1950’s hit, and then the night ended with the party anthem from Deer Tick’s new album ‘Let’s All Go To The Bar’, which while it isn’t my favourite, everyone else was lovin’ it.
It was a solid night of rock, and all the bands were brilliant. If there’s any chance you can see any of these bands, leap for it, they’re worth the money.