band of horses

[this is neither my photo nor even from the same show]

band of horses finally made it back to town after their failed attempt last march. as expected, they delivered a quality show, despite the lack of the bearded guy [pictured center]. the show was @ the conservatory, & while i had heard of their subpop labelmate chad vangaalen, i had never heard him. neither had i heard of simon dawes, so i went late, hoping to miss the openers. to my dismay, the show hadn't even started yet [though i got there 1.5 hours after doors opened], but i enjoyed what i heard. simon dawes sounded like a band i will be into when their next album comes out. i can't quite put my finger on it, it just seemed like they need to progress a little further to satisfy my palate. their guitarist reminded me of some of the stuff you hear from wilco, all distortiony & whatnot. they only played about 15min. but it was pretty good. up next was chad vangaalen. i listened somewhat disinterestedly at first waiting in vain for one friend to show up @ all, & a little longer for another. it sounded alright, so i decided to go out onto the floor & get a better look. to my surprise he was onstage all alone! he was playing guitar, singing & had a kick-drum set up. it was pretty badass. he was joined later by a drummer & the lead from dawes on keyboard. i'd say i would listen to his album if someone burned it for me, but i won't be going out to purchase it. finally, boh took the stage & played several songs from their album, as well as a cover of 'you don't have to call me darlin', which was fun. there were a couple of songs i was hoping for that didn't get played, though it was a moderately long set, without significant pauses or interruptions between songs. if you havent heard band of horses, click here & give funeral a listen. by the time they got up to play i was pretty tired, so i wasn't as stoked as i had been when i first heard they were coming, but they were worth the wait.