Headlights / Black Joe Lewis / Mates of State – Granada – 6/11/08

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Last night I headed out to the venerable Granada theater here in Dallas with Jen, Jill and Angie to go see Headlights, Black Joe Lewis and the Mates of State.  Find all of my photos from the show, including larger versions of the ones posted in this entry here.  I confess that I was there for Headlights, but obviously stayed to check out the other two since Headlights was the very first band.  I am very familiar with Headlights’ recent work as I just posted a review of their latest: Some Racing, Some Stopping.  I really do enjoy that record, even if I didn’t give it the highest score…it’s a fun album, just not at all revolutionary.  So we walked in at 8:00, and unfortunately Headlights was already on:

Headlights was very good, I have to say.  They closed their set with Cherry Tulips, which is my least favorite track from Some Racing, Some Stopping, but it worked very well live.  My complaint about the recorded version is that it suffers from being a little bit too chick-poppy and seems to lack real guts, but live, when her vocals are tempered/complimented a little more by increased levels in the backing vocals and slide guitar, it makes a great mix and works really really well.  I recognized only a couple of songs that they played from their latest album, but all of the songs they played moved along at a brisk pace, were catchy, and kept my attention.  Headlights played a very breathless set, taking only enough time between songs to take a single swig of their beers before launching into another song; this definitely helped keep the energy high and songs tight.  Their harmonies and vocals all sounded great, along with their music itself – translating the songs well live.  The only complaint I had about Headlights was that they went on before I got there, even though we guess that we only missed one or two of their songs.  Excellent work – for sure my favorite band of the night.  Definitely check them out.  Next up was a band which I knew absolutely nothing about – Black Joe Lewis:

I realize this is a pretty bland and static picture, but it was really the only relatively close, in-focus one I got of the entire band.  Onstage for the entire show, they were rocking two lead guitars, one bass, drums, trumpet, sax and baritone sax.  Black Joe Lewis is a funk/blues/motown band (complete with awesome James Brown cover) from Austin which was a ton of fun to see live.  Each one of those guys in the band was completely bad ass as their respective instruments, although the sax, trumpet and drums weren’t as highlighted as the other four guys – I think that is just because of the short set.  This funk/blues/motown hybrid is a sound that the Scabs (also from Austin) use and subsequently transformed into their own sound, but the heart of that music – the real soul of it – is something that the Scabs have been unable to capture, which is exactly what Black Joe Lewis is able to do.  I loved them.  Everyone there loved them.  They got the crowd really into their set (it really took off when they played ”Bitch I Love You”), even though they were just the opener – not to mention the fact that their sound could NOT be more different from the Mates of State.  I highly recommend seeing these guys if you make it to Austin soon and you feel like partying.  Finally, the Mates of State themselves:

I am going to volunteer something right away – I am not a huge fan of their latest album (and only one I have), Re-Arrange Us, so I’m not sure how excited I was to see them before they even took the stage.  I think some of their music is overly simplistic and way, way too sugary-pop for my taste.  That said, when we walked in, we saw people in Mates of State uniforms with many of the (very young) fans rolling in with their own homemade Mates of State t-shirts and other gear.  It certainly spoke volumes that there is a large contingent of diehard Mates fans (Maters?  Mateys?) running around out there who love their music.  Love.  It. 

With that said, the Mates did not disappoint their small legion of fans who were going absolutely nuts for seemingly every single song they played.  The opening bars of most any song got a ravenous cheer from the crowd, and the close of every song saw even more rowdy cheers.  Every song had a large portion of the crowd grooving along with the beat, if not outright singing along to every single word and waving their hands around.  The Mates of State projected a ton of energy from the stage and part of that may have had to do with the fact that the band was so close to the front.  With a two-piece band, you have the luxury of placing yourself in the audience’s lap, and I think it worked really well for this show.  Their songs are quick, catchy for the most part, and energetic, and that combo comes right off the band and goes straight to the crowd.  I cannot imagine that any Mateys walked away disappointed with that show.

Upcoming dates so you too can check out the Mates of State madness:

6/12 – Houston, TX – Warehouse Live
6/13 – Austin, TX – Emo’s Alternative Lounge
6/14 – Little Rock, AR – Rev Room
6/15 – Memphis, TN – Hi-Tone
6/17 – Newport, KY – Southgate House
6/18 – Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Small’s Theatre
6/21 – Philly, PA – Popped! Music Festival
7/19 – San Francisco, CA – Download Festival – Shoreline
7/20 – Los Angeles, CA – Download Festival – Gibson Ampitheater
7/25 – Pemberton, BC – Pemberton Festival
8/01 – Chicago, IL – Lollapalooza
8/08 – Liberty State Park, NJ – All Points West Festival
9/26 – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Festival