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Band of Horses, January 22, TLA
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Band of Horses, January 22, TLA
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Given the expansive and dreamlike nature of their records, it's not hard to see how some people could write off Band of Horses as a live act. Those people are truly missing out. If anything, the equestrienne collective are a must-see as they proved Tuesday at the TLA.
The group, bloated out to six members doubling their usually svelte three-piece, came out to thunderous applause before opening the show with "Monsters" off their '06 release Everything All the Time. "Are you guys ready to have some fun or whatever?" asked front man Ben Bridwell before kicking things off. "Well too bad, because here comes a slow one."
What followed was an excellent set of hits from both Everything and last year's Cease to Begin. Songs like "The Great Salt Lake" and "Weed Party" were given new life on stage by the pronounced drums, which gave the songs a new low not found on their records. I can't for the life of me find this guy's name anywhere on the net, which is a real shame considering how much his presence improved the songs.
Still, it was the tightness of the unit as a whole and Bridwell's impressive vocal work that made the show. Despite the inflated numbers and the presence of looser, jammier tunes like "The General Specific" and "Ode to LRC," the band was the definition of tight. And Bridwell vocals were uncanny. His haunting falsetto voice crooned and stretched but never broke. Pretty impressive considering the man looks like a gas station attendant.
The set mixed slower numbers like "No One's Gonna Love You" with anthems along the lines of "Is There a Ghost." However, the defining moment came near the end of the set when Band of Horses crawled into their best and most famous song, The Funeral. On record, the song is a head-bobbing anthem about life. On stage, the song becomes a monolithic wall of sound that rises like a wave, only to crash down and make the audience realize that something special is happening. To see such a well written song preformed to perfection is an experience like no other.
Believe the hype - you haven't heard Band of Horses until you've heard them live.
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