Show Review: Tanlines @ Red7 (8/30)

Last week featured back to back nights at Red7, outside to inside. Wild Nothing was fantastic. I had relatively light expectations for Tanlines. When I found out it had sold out, even given the smaller capacity of the inside venue, I was quite surprised. I think the band was, too.

Tanlines is Jesse Cohen and Eric Emm. They throw down calypso-electro dance jams. They asked Love Inks to open. Learning Secrets spun between sets.

Learning Secrets had the catalog. I love that Ian Orth (also known as Orthy) through in the track from Lindstrom I shared with you a few weeks back. It was a perfect fit for between bands, a pallet cleanser if you will.

Love Inks now has a drummer. Despite rumors that drummers are soulless creatures that are hatched from under bridges, the band seemed to benefit from the added interaction. Sherry LeBlanc even commented that it is a strange concept that with a drummer, you can extend songs. Before, things would just stop. Now, they can jam. “Skeleton Key” and “Tattoo” were best songs on the night. I didn’t warm to the remake of “Rock On”. I think it needed more of Kevin Dehan’s echoed, layered guitar to fill the gaps early.

Message to Tanlines fans – Show up for the opener. I don’t understand why so many of you had to flood the venue just before the headline went on. A friend almost didn’t get in in time after he was delayed getting downtown. A line to deal with will call at 11:30pm? I guess that is how it works when a song or two for an indie gets picked up and put on dude/bro heavy rotation.

On to Tanlines‘ set, they slowly handled stage set up and soundchecked. Took a brief respite side stage and got under way. Eric Emm joked that we start all sold out shows this way, with “Rain Delay” slowed down to ballad speeds. It was a bit odd. Jesse handled crowd interaction duties going forward. He would lean on his mic stand over the keyboards and just chat with people up front. It was personal.

The crowd was antsy to get dancy after the opener, so the band just unleashed the party. “All of Me” and “Real Life” did the most damage to attendees feet. My personal favorites from the band were “Brothers”, “Not the Same” and “Abby”. It was similar to the Divine Fits show in that why have this EP/LP’s worth of songs, so they play ’em all. I was surprised how few backing tracks were actually needed. Jesse is a busy guy. Vocals were excellent. Great performance from the two piece…

Here’s looking forward to a bigger venue and longer set list next time around.

There are a few more pics at the photo site…