Show Pics: Holy Ghost! @ Emo’s (10/24)
Crystal Stilts. Quite a change up from what I was shooting just before heading to downtown proper.
I have been digging on the new wave disco vibes from Holy Ghost! since first hearing “Hold On” as a demo. I knew nothing about Midnight Magic, but Orthy is an easy sell for me to get out early. In fact, I was standing in the crowd and looked over and noticed Alex from Holy Ghost! standing next to me. Turns out they are fans of Orthy, too, so they decided to have the Ian and the band join along for the Texas dates.
Emo’s played host. Plenty of pics and a few notes from the evening follow…
I am close to abandoning all hope of shooting shows at Emo’s. I know you have lights. Please use them. Weird fill colors, contrasting schemes, incandescent fill that screws up your eyeball’s color balance with the LED motion lights and too little smoke fill to have dramatic backdrop tend to be the recurring themes. Sure, sometimes it is good, but the good moments are outweighed by the frustrating ones.
Orthy continues notching up the best-of local live acts. They played a few new tracks that were just plain outstanding and had the crowd cheering with great approval at the end of the set. It made me quite happy to see a local band take what was an empty house and win each and every disinterested newcomer over. Having the band with extra flexibility in layers and complications has pushed Orthy away from bedroom pop/MacBook status to viable act for your next festival. Go see them and tell me you disagree and I will label you a contrarian for such tomfoolery.
Midnight Magic seemed to be a member mashup of Jessica Six and Hercules and Love Affair with a new (actual) female vocalist. Buoyed by the immaculate disco basslines courtesy of W. Andrew Raposo, Tiffany Roth puts down the Donna Summer big vocal. I enjoyed their set, I did, but nothing I will pursue in the future. I would hire them for a big party. This is the kind of band we need for F1 after shows downtown.
On the the darlings of the night, Holy Ghost!. Since Alex and I exchanged a few words while Nick walked by, I consider them to be close personal friends. I am going to go out on a limb and thank everyone in attendance. I have seen bigger crowds at Emo’s, but very few have been so concentrated and undiluted in fandom. Sing along, dance along, expecting the breaks and changes and cheering at the start of a song before normal human can detect what song it is like the final round of name that tune gone hipster dance party – it was a great crowd. Pat yourselves on the back.
Aside from the party people, I would have to say the new material sounded great with a call out to “Dumb Disco Ideas”. Emo’s did have the sound right, even if the lighting sucked. Thank you, new best friends, and I apologize for bailing a few songs early to see loud noises. You understand, right guys?
