The Rosebuds & Megafaun @ the Whole Music Club
(The Rosebuds)
The Rosebuds make me want to live in Raleigh, North Carolina. For the second time in less than a year, the four piece band took a concert venue in the Twin Cities and made it feel like a friend’s basement at a house party. I can’t imagine how cool their hometown shows might be when the band gives a show that is thousands of miles away from Raleigh seem like a hometown reunion. Armed with a plethora of great songs from their last two LPs, the Rosebuds again played a great set, this time at the Whole Music Club on the U of M campus.
(The Rosebuds)
The four piece band, which featured guitar, keys, bass and drums, had to deal with some sound issues throughout their nearly hour long performance, but still managed to play a great set. They relied heavily on their last two albums, 2007′s Night of the Furies and last years Life Like to fill up the majority of their set. Their propulsive indie pop sound was best on display with set highlights “Life Like” and “Cape Fear” from Life Like and “Cemetery Lawn” and “Get Up Get Out” from Night of the Furies.
(The Rosebuds)
The Whole had plenty of room to move around in during the Rosebuds 55 minute set (at one point Kelly Crisp asked the crowd to move closer to the stage), but the night still had a palpable energy from the fans that had come out. When the band unplugged their instruments and played an acoustic “encore” of their song “Nice Fox,” they asked the crowd to join them in singing the echo part of the vocals, which is always a risk, but in this case turned out to be the highlight of the set. The couple of Ivan and Kelly, who have been the two mainstays in the band since its inception, proved all night to be gracious and entertaining singers, and their final act came by coaxing some great vocals out of the crowd. For a band with such a great sound, I have wondered why they are not selling out bigger venues when they stop through the Twin Cities, but during moments like the encore I was happy to have a small group of people gathered who clearly loved this great band.
(Megafaun)
(Megafaun)
(Megafaun)
Like the last time they came through town, the Rosebuds brought their good friends Megafaun to open the show. As I walked into the venue, I barley recognized the band, who I have seen a few times, up on the stage. Their sound was more polished and instead of bouncing around the stage, they were sitting on chairs. Where before their sound was abrasive and a mix between alt-country and noise, they seem to be heading towards a sound more like their former band mate Justin Vernon. There were a few songs, with slow burning and dramatic instrumentation swelling behind some falsetto vocals, that sounded like they could have come from the Bon Iver catalog. The band played some unreleased songs from their upcoming album that sounded great and seem to be coming into their own with their sound and will be worth keeping an eye out for in the future.
(Megafaun)
(Megafaun)
[Review by Josh Keller, photos by Jon Behm.]
The Rosebuds: Purchase | Official | MySpace | Wikipedia
Megafaun: Purchase | Official | Twitter | MySpace
Megafaun was definitely the funniest band I have ever seen.
Both of these bands convinced me that they were there solely for their love of music. It was almost a magical experience seeing so much love. Especially in the fact that they came up and just talked to us after the concert.
It is quite sad that the Rosebuds are so underrated and under-appreciated.
Nice photos