Show Pics: Tennis @ The Parish (5/8)
Spaulding, get dressed you’re playing golf. – No I’m not grandpa, I’m playing tennis.
Tennis played The Parish on a Tuesday, a rainy Tuesday. The show was sold out, very sold out. There a few shows a year that bring out the part time show-goers, this was definitely one of them. It’s not a bad thing, by any means. We need them to come out so that they get hooked again and we can get better booking and venue additions/remodels. In fact, this is precisely why The Parish was reborn with its great lights and fantastic sound.
Vacationer came along and we all had a good time, well most of us. Read for notes and pics.
Alright, first I must deal with the one show a year crowd. BE FRIENDLY. We get it. You weren’t expected a sold out show on a Tuesday, but it happens. So, please don’t pretend that you own the parcel of floor you are standing on that happens to be in the path of a bar and the restrooms (and one of favorite shooting angles in Austin). We regulars welcome you with open arms. Just don’t close yours and pretend I didn’t politely ask to walk by.
That’s that.
Vacationer is upbeat. Vacationer is fun. Vacationer played their entrie albunm and a bonus track. No kidding. At the end of their set, exactly at the time limit, they were clearing gear and someone yelled, “ONE MORE!!!” The lead singer joked, “We’d have to write another song.” Straddling a wierd place between Reptar and Beach Fossils, they never went a moment seeming unhappy or ungrateful. To this occasionally jaded music fan, it was a bit off-putting, but the crowd ate it up. There was dancing and rejoicing and plenty of cell phone videos, so check youtube. Promising young musicians writing songs about good times and girls met in Austin.
Tennis took to the stage to a now full house. I camped up front understanding the rabid nature of one-a-year show goers and it paid off. Tennis believe in the music they are playing. They believe they have good songs and it shows. Alaina Moore’s vocal is controlled. She knows her range and she’s sticking to it. Therefore, she never misses and note. Moore starts at the keys, but husband Patrick Riley relieves her of the ivory duties to let her stand front and center. Incidentally, tonight was her birthday celebration; Alaina had on the highest heels she has ever worn on stage.
Fifteen songs on the setlist, things went quickly as they jumped from EP, to LP to follow-up. “Origins” gets household criticism for displaying the most Black Keys influence (Patrick Carney produced Young & Old), but felt a little softer around the edges live lining up with the rest of the set. “Petition” was strong and sweet, maybe the best live transition of all. “Cape Dory” was charming, as was “Marathon”. My favorite was “My Better Self”; it carried a weight to it, but still let the crowd sway and sing along, oddly joyous.
Judge Smails was wrong.
A few more pics at the photo site…
