Saturday, May 17, 2008

"I think we're outnumbered"

So last night I checked out Uh Huh Her at Pearl Street in Northampton, MA, and the highlight of the night actually happened before the show even started (no offense to the fine musicians who played - I loved the show, honest!). It went down like this. The show was supposed to start at 8:30, so I got to the venue around 8:15 only to find the doors hadn't been opened yet and there was a much bigger line than I anticipated. Not only was the line bigger than I anticipated, but it's make-up was somewhat unexpected, but I'll get back to that in a minute.

So I'm waiting in line, and one of the guys who works for the venue drifts over to me (if you've been to Pearl Street or the Iron Horse, I'm talking about biker-Santa Claus) and says to me, "Let me tell you something - I think we're outnumbered tonight." Honest, those were his exact words! This is where the composition of the line comes in. Let me put it this way, there were more guys at the last Indigo Girls concert I attended. I just sort of chuckled (as quietly as possible) and looked around to make sure there weren't any eyes glaring at me due to my unwilling complicity. "I think we're outnumbered tonight." Absolutely classic! 'Nuff said about that though.

Come to find out, there was massive amounts of traffic, causing the bands to arrive late, but when the show finally got rolling, opening for the evening was Angie Mattson (MySpace). She played some original tunes (which I wasn't familiar with) on her guitar, and a killer cover of The Black Crowes' song She Talks to Angels.

The Black Crowes - She Talks to Angels (live) : Freak 'N' Roll...Into The Fog (Live - The Fillmore, San Francisco)


The big draw of the night though was Uh Huh Her, whose newest album's (Common Reaction) release date has been pushed back to August. If you're not familiar with the quartet, they play an peppy electro-80's, synth-dance fiesta that feels like it should be the soundtrack for a remake of a Brat-pack film. I was only familiar with the five tracks off of their debut I See Red EP, so much of the material they played during the evening was unknown to me, and presumably off of the upcoming album. Suffice to say, if you enjoyed the EP, the new material carried on in the same tradition.

Thankfully, even though I was in fact outnumbered and one of the minority, I made it out alive in order to share this post with you. they have a few shows left before the end of the month, and I would assume will be hitting the road again during the summer in preparation for the release of the album in August.


Uh Huh Her - Say So (Thom Russo Mix) : I See Red EP


Visit their website, their label Nettwerk, and become their friend on MySpace.

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