jlh | Concert! (Reply)

honestys_easy and I went to see Blake Lewis at the Canal Room last night. Unlike the show in June, which was just a man and his audio equipment, this time the band was there, which of course made for a very different show. The band had a great energy, and you could feel Blake feeding off of it, which was good because the crowd was rather small unfortunately--though still too big for upstairs at the Knitting Factory, so it was right for them to move the show. We weren't able to do nearly as much people watching as last time, as there weren't as many characters, but there was a significant contingent of geeky gay boys there, which was adorable.

Blake's falsetto was a little shaky, and he was chugging tea for most of the show, though it got a little better as the show went on. I loved the band, but I'm a little shy about talking about that as so much has been made about that band and they have their own little fandom and all of that, a space I'm not really playing in, and you know, I'm not texting them on a daily basis or whatever. So I'll just say: they're a very good band.

One very encouraging note. Last time I'd noted that what worries me about Blake is his tendency to go past the song and straight to the remix without bothering to make the song itself good. I think in working with a band, he simply can't do that. The songs were all tighter, and in the new songs you could hear how having the band is pushing him in a much more rock direction. Particularly the version of "Emotional Waterfalls" was fantastic. I'd liked it a lot when I heard it in June, but with the band it was stellar, with a funk groove behind it. I think he just works better with a band than with a series of co-writers and producers, which is always the downside to a rocker being on Idol.

The opening act, some LA band called Carlotta, had an annoying lead guitarist/keyboard player in one of those super low v-neck shirts and bad emo hair that he shook out of place when he whipped his head around such that he looked like he had a "DA" on his forehead. The lead singer was equally irritating with his faux-Jagger strut and inability to reach his falsetto on key (you wrote the songs, moron, write ones you can sing consistently) and his 27 necklaces, scarf covering his super low v-neck (that he wore loose, which made it look even worse) and pointless blazer. Ugh. But the bassist, wearing a normal v-neck thank you, was cute, and the drummer was excellent and also super hot, especially after he took off his totally normal baseball shirt. This of course made the lead singer even more irritating, as his prancing mostly just got in the way of my staring at the drummer.

But even with all that, they were better than that Real World wannabe singer that opened for Blake last time, for reals.