On Friday (7/1), I went to go see a show at The Independent. Rogue Wave headlined, Helio Sequence was underneath that, and Audio Out Send opened. Audio Out Send played a pretty solid set. They are from the Bay area and I will try and see them play another time.
I have mixed feelings about the venue. It is clean and has a nice stage but it also is a little too open and I still don't feel like it's a real rock show when no one is smoking. Also, it seems rather big for a SF venue and, as a result, the show wasn't super crowded which allowed for a little more dancing space.
Helio Sequence is one of my personal bands. I don't know that they are my favorite but they seem to be one I often promote to others (along with The Wrens) and have managed to see more than once in the last twelve months. I worked my way to the front for the set because they really impressed me the last time I saw them live. The set seemed a little more laid back than the last time I saw them (perhaps a result of touring with Rogue Wave or some kind of unspecified West Coast effect). Their set was still tight and I love the drummer's style. He conjures up grandiose effects with a very clean style. The set was fun and, again, they seemed to bring the crowd around to support them. I enjoyed myself and tried to do some rockin' in a fairly laid back crowd.
Rogue Wave were the stars of the show. Hailing from Oakland, the result of a Craigslist posting, and now successful Subpop recording artist they were enthusiastically welcomed. I stayed up front and ended up next to a group of people who knew some of the band members. We ended up chatting because they were a fairly large group and they were pretty cool. I ended up dancing with some of the girls and talking with most of the group and even Graham of Rogue Wave. Ok, now to turn to the actual set. I am glad that I was up front because you could really feel that the band was glad to be home and was having a lot of fun. They played a song off their forthcoming album Cat Form(?), due out in October and played a cover of Neil Young's Wrecking Ball as a combined supergroup with Helio Sequence. That song had a poor start while the guitarist from Helio Sequence got the guitar in tune but then it got together and I enjoyed it. Apparently, they are trying to include the song on the album with the addition of the Helio Sequence guys. They played pretty much the entire album "Out of the Shadows." I good set and I had a great time, probably the best night out since I came out here.
posted by fulsome @ 7:20 PM
