Let's start off by saying that School of Seven Bells played for an hour and 15 minutes. That's about 30 minutes more than Mr. Jack White. Your move Meg White. That wouldn't happen if she was still around. A few friends were there and you would have thought he left the stage to set kittens on fire. Jeez. Remember this is the same guy who beat the crap out of Jason Stollsteimer.
Anyway, this is about School of Seven Bells, who were dynamite on Saturday. I had seen them a few times before and always enjoyed them, but this time they were off the charts. Usually with an eletronic based band like School, you have ebbs and flows and quiet moments. This was all uptempo, amped up energy from start to finish. It's one of those shows where you can still feel the beat after the show has ended.
The setlist:
- Windstorm
- Iamundernodisguise
- Bye Bye Bye
- Scavenger
- I L U
- Love Play
- My Cabal
- Lafaye
- White Wind
- Low Times
- When You Sing
The crazy thing from my perspective is that I hadn't seen the band in four years. In fact, I've never seen them headlining or touring behind an album release. They've been together five years already. I've been doing this too long. Seem like yesterday I was bowing at Ben Curtis when he was with the Secret Machines. That band has become a distant memory, but Ben did answer a fan request to sing Lightning Blue Eyes. Awwwww, memories.
The band is down to a duo now, with the couple of Ben and Alejandra Deheza and couple of touring members.I guess the sister got tired of being the third wheel. That worried me at first because one of the stregths of their first two albums was the harmony that the twins displayed. SXIIB's third album, Ghostory, does have a bit of that cosmic vocal play. The new album works best when they crank up the beats and spirituality of tracks like Scavenger and White Wind. That later song was killer live, it was going down an open road at 110 mph with no traffic. My Cabal from Alpinism was solid as well.
Previously:
- Fields/Page France/School of Seven Bells @ Mercury Lounge, 2007
- These New Puritans / School of Seven Bells / Soundpool @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, 2008
Nice first impressions from local duo Beacon, also on the Ghostly International label. They are on the slow jam, chill wave side with a few stand out tracks.
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