I had a live music filled evening last Saturday (2/18/06). My friend Bill and I got to the Echo about 7:30PM and The Drones from Australia were getting started. They are a rock band with sloppy vocals and lots of guitar solos. With the exception of about eight people, the crowd was sitting down on the side away from the stage. When the lead guitarist broke a string about 40 minutes into the set I assumed they were done since it was an early show, but I was wrong. He sat on the stage, changed a string and then they played "one" last song that sounded like three songs and included a very long guitar solo. Kelley Stoltz didn't take the stage until about 9:00PM. By this time about 75 people had arrived and attentively watched. The vocal mix was really bad on the first song and the sound guy never seemed to get it right. It was extremely loud and sounded like he had everything turned all the way up (not what you want for nuanced Beatles-inspired pop). About 15 minutes into his set, the band seemed really pressed for time and Stoltz started to complain that he had to make way for DJs later that night. They only played about eight songs and never got a chance to do my favorite song off of the new record. After about 30 minutes he said he didn't have time for any more and looked toward the soundbooth for guidance. At that point the houselights came up and I filed out of the club with the other annoyed patrons. I'm not sure if a big crowd showed up later or not but there was nobody in line when we left. Instead 75 patrons and an up-and-coming Sub Pop artist left pissed off. One of my friends at the show said the same thing happened the last time Okkervil River played the Echo and there were twice as many people at the show. The lead signer of Okkervil actually grabbed an acoustic and did an unamplified song at the edge of the stage.
We didn't end our evening there. In fact, we were in a sufficiently annoyed mood to really enjoy some metal. We showed up at Spaceland and it was packed. The entire crowd was up front and center for the Sword. Unfortunately we only heard about two songs, but what we heard sounded tight. Judging by how captivated the crowd was, I'd say they're worth checking out again. The crowd was definitely at capacity when Priestess took the stage. They were very tight and even had a long drum solo. I didn't like them as much as the Sword or Early Man, but they definitely entertained the crowd. By the time Early Man came on I think some people had seen enough metal. I saw them late last year at Spaceland and they were just ok. But this time they were so much better. They had a big stack of Orange amps and the lead singer was able to hit his Ozzy high notes. It was a great crowd, tight bands and everybody seemed to leave satisfied. By the way, my call whiskey drink of choice for the night was $7.50 at the Echo and only $6 at Spaceland. And the sound guy at Spaceland did a great job - you could hear every note of those Flying Vs.....
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