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This year Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival curated a promotional
east coast and central US tour called Bonnaroo 365 Tour showcasing Austin-based psych rock/blues band
White Denim and Chicago formed math rockers Maps & Atlases. I
absolutely love White Denim, however I've missed them every single time they've
come to Austin over the last year either due to work or the fact that they love
to play secret shows in teeny, 150 capacity local venues and by the time I get
there, it is of course already sold out. My best friend Emily, a Chicagoan
herself, adores Maps & Atlases, so you can imagine our excitement when we
saw that they were playing a joint tour! Not only that, but they were scheduled
to play at legendary blues club Antone's where the likes of BB King and Muddy
Waters have graced the stage.
I really like
Antone's; it's got great sound and a cool vibe. The only thing that kills me
about it is the sight line - it's awful! It is a long skinny room with the
stage in the middle so if you don't fight your way to the middle center, you
won't have that great of a view. Regardless, White Denim was playing so at that
point I could've really cared less.
Maps & Atlases
came on first, and brought a great energy to the stage. I'd seen them once
before during their showcase at Red Eyed Fly during SXSW 2012. The sound was a
bit off there so it was nice seeing them in a venue where their music could
really resonate. Dave Davison has a very unique, calming voice and his frontman
role was very hypnotizing. Not to mention the fact his bushy beard and long hair
make him look like Father Earth. They played a lot of their newer stuff off of
their 2012 LP Beware and Be Grateful, as well as from their 2011 EP release, Living Decorations. About
halfway through the set they turned on a huge sitting drum that was illuminated
from the inside with a soft light that changed colors. Bassist Shiraz Dada gave
his bass a break to pound the drum and they were putting off almost a tribal,
grass-roots vibe. Here they began playing tunes off of their older releases
such as Trees, Swallows,
Houses and You and Me and the Mountain. All
together their set was consistent and highly entertaining.
After their set,
White Denim came out to rock the house down. My theory is that bands always
play their best and hardest when they're back on their home turf, and this was
no exception. I absolutely love James Petralli's weird, gruff voice and I also
thoroughly enjoy watching Steve Terebecki playing the bass because I think he
looks like a young Rick Moranis, which always cracks me up. One interesting
thing that White Denim does during their performance is that they basically
don't take any breaks in between songs. Their set is like one long jam session
where song after song just flows into each other. It's pretty impressive when
you're playing an hour and half long show. They played tracks off 2008's Exposion and 2009 released Fits, followed by some EP
numbers from Workout Holiday and Let's
Talk About It. I am super into one of their latest albums; the '11 release
Last Day of Summer. That whole record is so happy-go-lucky and positive. I was
happy to hear several songs from that too.
The combination of these two bands was killer and it was probably
one of my more favorite rock shows I’ve seen in a while. I look forward to
seeing either one of them the next time they roll through town.
