6. Fruit Bats and Blue Giant :: Bowery Ballroom (there was "radness afoot")

Firstly, can I just sound old for a hot sec and say how annoying it is that Bowery's shows NEVER start on time (ie. your alleged 7pm show will not actually begin 'til after 11...so go meet friends for dinner, come back after 5 courses - with cash in hand if you care to drink (rarrr) - and then enjoy a couple hours of great music in my second favorite venue and basement bar in the city (so far).

We all know there'll be a couple opening bands but there's just no reason (especially on a rainy Monday) to keep anyone waiting for the headliner any longer than necessary. Seriously. I think the first opener came on at like 9pm (awesome...just don't print 7pm as the show start time then). K, I'm done sounding waaaaay over 30, now to the actual bands themselves.

Opener - The Singleman Affair's frontman/guitarist looked like a slightly older Napoleon Dynamite. He closed with a pretty great whistling song...hmm.

Second opener - Blue Giant (of Portland, OR) with previous and current band members pulled from bands such as The Decemberists, Via Voce, Circus Lupus and Swords and collaborations with M. Ward and Corin Tucker of Sleater Kinney. Two words. Sweet Jesus. They got energy, they got fire, they got a great mix of country, blue grass and good 'ol fashioned rock 'n roll. Loved 'em. And turns out Leo and I graduated the same year as one of the guitarists at UofO in Eugene. Hollah.

Headliners - Fruit Bats (originally of Chicago, the group now calls Seattle home) the Bats chilltastic rock def. has more of a west coast/Californian flavor and as frontman Eric Johnson (also a member of The Shins) put it, we all felt "radness afoot" that night...right on brah, right on. Instant fav's of their '09 album include the title track The Ruminant Band, The Blessed Breeze and Tegucigulpa.