Show Review

Let me start off by saying this…Brandtson are a bunch of damn liars. Nobody dances anymore? Is that so? I say this because from the looks of things in Charlotte last Sunday night, that is certainly not the case. However, though dancing was a popular activity later on that evening, the Thirty Days and Dirty Nights tour did not start off on that foot.

The band that kicked the show off was Mona Ray, but due to a misunderstanding of timing, I missed nearly the whole set. However there had been a lot of local buzz surrounding this band’s opening slot and it appears their turnout was not bad at all. I just can’t give a legitimate perspective on their performance, but I can and will give you one on the next band, DeSole.

I was completely unimpressed by this six-man rock band. They were just like a million other bands I have seen in the past. The same moves, same attempts to get the crowd involved, all in all, same gimmicks. They three guitar players didn’t really seem to do anything special with the potential of harmonizing and constantly wound up sounded cluttered. I also thought the singer was weak with the crowd. He didn’t move too much, just back and forth, a lot. For a band playing rock music similar to bands like Taking Back Sunday and Northstar, the enthusiasm and passion needed to compete with those bands that have done it first was not present in DeSole’s act.

Lucky for me, that was the only downside of this show. This was made abundantly clear as soon as Umbrellas finished their first song, “Boston White”, one of my favorite tracks off their remarkable new album “Illuminare”. They were in the zone this particular night, every song sounded wonderful. With each song, more and more people found themselves trickling into the room to see what they were hearing at the bar. By the end of their set, the tiny Casbah room at Tremont Music Hall was packed with people who had just heard their new favorite band. The majority of the songs played were off “Illuminare”, but there were a couple old favorites played that Scott Windsor did not deprive his fans off. When Umbrellas played “City Lights”, it brought the house down. Almost everyone in the crowd seemed to know the words and was wailing along to the soft, angelic vocals as if it were they whom were the one singing to the crowd. It was a lovely thing to watch. My only gripe with their set was the absence of “Tests on My Heart”, the one-take wonder off the new album.

After the charming Umbrellas left the stage, the crowd had become larger and with that, their appetite for a great show had been increased. It was up to the last band to pull through and deliver. Lucky for us, it was Brandtson, a band I have never seen endure an off-night. Beginning with a veteran’s authority, Brandtson “started a commotion” and got the fists pumping and voices singing along to a tune off the new album called “Denim Iniquity” nearly immediately. Following this fervent opener was the track that caused me to lose all faith in the band take on honesty, “Nobody Dances Anymore”. Not even thirty seconds into the song, the crowd was moving and grooving as though no one was watching. I could tell from watching Brandtson’s constant growing enthusiasm that they loved this crowd and the way they were responding to their new brand of rock. The other highlights of the set include moment they turned the end of “Here We Go” into a surprisingly awesome cover of Pussycat Doll’s single “Don’t Ya (wish your girlfriend was hot like me)?”, the slow-tempo song “1,000 Years” and the song that seems to be everyone’s favorite, “Earthquakes and Sharks”. After ending the set with an old one, “Mexico”, Brandtson proved to me all over again that they are one of those few bands it is always worth going to see. So if you get the chance, you better do it.

review by Kevin Condon