Show Review: The Pharmacy @ 29th St Ballroom (11/23)

Turkey has come and gone. After the joys of fambly and the crushing defeat at the hands of the Frogs from Ft. Worth, Friday night was bound to be better with a four band show at 29th St. Ballroom. The Pharmacy was in town and we had locals The Bad Lovers, Pharaohs, and Foreign Mothers to surround them in Keeping Austin Weird.

The locals were pegged in the corner of the bar stage while headliners took it to the big room for beer throwing, bass hanging, big jams and really drunk dude being happy (and then taking a nap).

Read on for a few more thoughts and plenty of pics.

I think Pharoahs had a good night. They jumped things off strong, a quick thirty minute set that grabbed the audience’s junk. Everyone on stage sang, vocals were a shared effort. Catchy jams, check out their reverbnation page.

Coffee break.

Foreign Mothers were up next. They had a fan. He was the aforementioned drunk guy. Harmless, singing, standing on stage, very friendly. They let everyone know he was a big fan. Kana on lead vocals would jump from mellow to blistering and like the first band would trade vocals regularly, more focused on Kana, though. Another fun set, it was easy to just enjoy, pogo a bit, maybe an occasional instigatory shove to the fellow next to you.

The Pharmacy was next in the big room. The other bands were front row, apparently Foreign Mothers was pretty obsessed with their first album. The three piece plays bigger because Stefan Rubicz provides the bass line via left hand keys while plinking away backing chords on the right hand. Meanwhile, Scott Yoder belts and plays and drummer, Brendhan Bowers keeps things loose on the drum kit. What is it about taller drummers that makes them seem lazy? Knowwaddimean?

Things were pretty quick as the band jumped from old to new. “Josephine” was a lovely thing. The finish was big as Stefan had moved from keys to bass a few songs before and the end of song melee included an audience member playing said bass, the drummer spilling beer on just about everyone including himself, Scott jamming things in the amps and Stefan reclaiming the bass to hang it from the rafters. It may still be there.

The Bad Lovers got to follow that, back on the little stage, but they managed to hold up against the shenanigans that were just unleashed. It was a little more subdued, but hey, can’t stay on 11.

More pics at the photo site…