Live Music

Califone's show at the Neurolux was good. It wasn't great, but it was good.

Part of it was that the band was a trio--by far the fewest people I've seen on stage for a Califone show. The band has shapeshifted since its inception, but this new stripped down format was a bit too stripped. And this coming from me--I love minimalism in music and all other things, but this lineup depended too much on nuance, leaned too heavily on the quieter stuff, to come across right.

Another part was that Neurolux crowds are among the loudest and least-engaged of any venue I've been in. And this is consistent. It's almost a shame the main bar isn't in another room altogether.

This week holds another type of rock show. On Thursday, Silversun Pickups and Viva Voce will play the Lux, and from what I've seen of both these bands, it should be a good one.

Silversun Pickups impressed at SXSW this year, even though I'd come to them blind and only saw them accidentally as I waited for the band that followed them. They put on a hell of a show, though, high energy and sufficient charm to bring their songs to life. Viva Voce pull off the chill groove well in the live setting, so they should be good complement to each other.