Rarely do I attend a concert where I have enjoyed an opening act as much, if not more than the headliner. That happened to me a couple of weeks ago at the Avalon. I went with my brother and a friend to see Mae. Little did I know that I would walk out of there a fan of a band I had previously never heard of. For this particular concert there were actually four opening acts, and since it was general admission and we were buying our tickets at the door, we had to get there on time to ensure we even made it in. Otherwise we probably would have missed at least of few of the openers. Usually I’m not one to fail to buy tickets in advance, but in this case it turned out to be a good thing we were not be prepared.
The first act had already taken the stage when we arrived, so we walked into the dark venue and attempted to find seats. As a result of the combination of our eyes adjusting from the light of day and the stage lights finding empty seats was somewhat difficult, but we managed to find a row that was virtually empty. We settled in and listened to the first two acts, a solo artist called Tokyo and a local group called Larusso. Tokyo was comfortable on stage with his acoustic guitar and was thoroughly enjoying himself as he bantered with the audience between songs. He had a good sound. Larusso, I didn’t like at all so I won’t waste time and space on them, but lets just say, they need a new lead singer, one with a voice that doesn’t crack on the high notes. They also need to learn how to tone it down just a bit so the audience can actually hear the notes being played.
All right, here is where the whole night changed for me. The third group to take the stage was a group called Barcelona. They are a trio from Seattle, with keys, guitar, drums and the occasional xylophone. The moment they took the stage, my friend turned to me and expressed that he thought these guys were going to be good. The moment they started playing I knew he was correct in his assessment. During most of the set, the stage was nearly pitch black with only three colored spots on each guy. After the first song I knew I would be buying their album.
The best word I could come up with at the time to describe their music was chill. I was impressed with their stage presence and control. The drummer was particularly impressive. Also, it takes skills to switch from the guitar to the xylophone mid song. They even brought a bit of nostalgia to stage by showing off their slap bracelets.
Immediately following their set my friend and I made our way to buy their album, a tee shirt, and slap bracelets. I haven’t been that excited about finding a new band in a long time.
After listening to their one and only album, I would have to say that my initial reaction was spot on. Here are a few links and you can decide for yourself what you think.
To finish up the opening acts was a band called Person L. Not much to say but they were trying way too hard and were way too loud.
Now, even though I don’t have quite as much to say about Mae doesn’t mean I didn’t highly enjoy them. Mae, an acronym for Multisensory Aesthetic Experience, is all about appealing to multiple senses during their performance: sight, sound, and smell. They included visuals and smells to coordinate to each song. For example, a song about fire had the smell of burning wood. One about the ocean smelled of salt water. They even used 3D visuals. Mae is a unique band in that during 2009 they are releasing on song a month and selling it on their website with all proceeds going to build a home for a family in need. Following the regular concert they were selling tickets to an all request acoustic set. I would have loved to attend, but it was already 11:15 when they concluded the three-song encore.
The night was well worth my 20 bucks.
