concert review: Shout Out Louds, Freelance Whales, The Franks

Great American Music Hall

18 May 2010

The night commenced with a bang from LA’s The Franks, who shook the night up with their unabashed love for good old punk rock fun. A couple of songs in, they had melted even the coldest hipster heart and people all across the dance floor were shaking to the undeniable thrash of their infectious, reckless and wonderfully ADD tunes.
4/5

Next up were Freelance Whales, whose off-kilter set delivered like an uninteresting, soporific Explosions in the Sky. The band could not hide their unmistakable desperation to set themselves a notch above the rest by meshing a thousand sounds all at once, and the only time their attempts actually worked were in some of the mandolin solos, which I will admit were kind of cool. Beware of this band, they might just ruin banjos for you forever.
1.5/5

Finally, they arrived: what the crowd was itching for, Shout Out Louds, all the way from Sweden, and as delectable as apple pie a la mode. Even though the band was missing a member—they had a replacement bass player because Ted was at home with his newborn—they absolutely killed it on stage. Atmospheric, layered, lush, loud, alive. Like a bittersweet reunion of lovers that is fated to be cut too short, they embraced the moment without reserve, knowing full well that the night would end and they would have to move on with their tour, their lives, their esoteric European-ness. How intoxicating was the juxtaposition of Eric’s precise beats with Carl’s flailing guitar work; Adam manifesting his exhilaration by diving through the crowd while Bebban supplied essential keys in a cool and collected demeanour on a heightened podium. We are not worthy.
4.4/5

set list:
1999
Throwing Stones
Please Please Please
Play The Game
Tonight I have to Leave It
Paper Moon
Show Me Something New
Too Late Too Slow
Normandie
The Comeback
Fall Hard
Go Sadness
Very Loud

Impossible
You Are Dreaming
Walls

The Franks - Please Please [mp3]
Shout Out Louds - Very Loud [mp3]