Lightspeed Champion – Empty Bottle – 6/13/08
Posted June 14th, 2008 · Artists: Lightspeed Champion
Dev Hynes and his Lightspeed Champion returned to our fair city of Chicago again last night at the Empty Bottle with a full band in tow and put on a pretty damn solid show last night. If you remember when I saw him come to Chicago back in March, he didn’t have the full band and played a stripped down acoustic guitar/violin set. He certainly did a very good job with that show (his first in the US), I was certainly looking forward to seeing him with the full band and he didn’t disappoint.
He kicked it off with “Galaxy of the Lost”, and then dropped a new song on us, “Marlene”, which I had heard briefly in a youtube video, and this was a really good song. The outro solo section of the song really gives Dev a chance to show off his guitar chops and it is really impressive. I think on thing you may not realize listening to the album that certainly shows itself live is his sheer guitar ability. This dude can fucking play. While probably “Marlene” and the solo near the end on “Midnight Surprise” are really the only places he ‘shows off’, you can see it in the other songs as well if you watch closely. I kind of really wish he would throw a few more solos or delicious chops in there because he can really do it well. For an example of what I’m talking about this is him trying Heart’s “Crazy on You” intro. Anyway, so the solos on “Marlene” were impressive. He hit us with some more songs from the album then, “No Surprise”, “Dry Lips”, “Tell Me What It’s Worth”, and a song that’s not on the album, but that he even played at the last show, the hooker song (or whatever it’s actually called).
He then gave us an acoustic taste with a pretty much just guitar/violin rendition of “Everyone I Know Is Listening To Crunk”, so it sounded pretty much exactly like the way the whole set was last time at AV-aerie. He also played another new song “Deadhead Blues” that was pretty good, it goes into a very Weezer-esque power chord breakdown towards the end of the song. Anyway, then we got the great “Midnight Surprise” with an “Imperial March” and “Star Wars Theme” intro to the song that was pretty good. “Midnight Surprise” sounded great back in March, but I think here with the real band is where is really shined and was just incredible. It really is such a great song, and it really does show off his ability because of the extra little things that he throws into the guitar parts of the song that really take it to a whole new level. This is definitely one of the best songs on any album so far this year, and it just absolutely killed live, once again.
Dev & Co. put in an awesome performance last night, and once again I’m always impressed by what this guy is putting out there, because it is always solid gold. The only complaint is that I wish the show were longer or that he had thrown in an encore. He did play “Devil Tricks For A Bitch” but didn’t segway it into “I Could Have Done It Myself” (which didn’t make an appearance) like he does on the album. Also “Let The Bitches Die” was also left off from the album. He certainly hit everything you need off of the album, so it is a minor complaint, and it didn’t really detract from the show much.
This guy is one of the more impressive young musicians out there on the scene today and he continues to bring some incredibly solid stuff every time I see him. And based off the way he was mobbed by fans walking off the stage he has already got a legion of superfans out there. I would certainly say you need to get familiar with his album, and check him out on this tour if you can, and certainly keep your eyes peeled in the future because with this guy’s talent it bodes well for him to bring us some classic stuff in the years to come.
Tour dates are as follows:
Jun 14 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry +
Jun 17 – Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey +
Jun 18 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge +
Jun 20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent +
Jun 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour +
Jun 22 – Pomona, CA @ The Glass House +
Jun 27 – Glastonbury Festival – John Peel State Glastonbury
Jun 27 – Glastonbury Festival – The Guardian Stage Glastonbury
Jun 28 – St Gallen Open Air Festival St Gallen
Jun 29 – Wakestock Festival Blenheim
Jul 3 – Cabaret Frappe Grenoble
Jul 4 – Wireless Festival London
Jul 4 – Red Fest Red Hill
Jul 6 – Wakestock Festival Abersoch
Jul 11 – Lounge on the Farm Canterbury
Jul 12 – Oxygen Festival Dublin
Jul 13 – T In The Park Kinross
Jul 20 – Lovebox London
Jul 20 – T4 On The Beach Weston-Super-Mare
Jul 24 – Les Prairies de La Mer St Tropez
Jul 26 – Sound Labs Pescara
Aug 2 – Splendour In The Grass Byron Bay, New South Wales
Aug 7 – Oya Festival Osla
Aug 8 – Way Out West Gothenburg
Aug 10 – Summer Sundae Leicester
Aug 16 – Green Man Festival Brecon Beacons
Aug 22 – Leeds Festival Leeds
Aug 24 – Reading Festival Reading
* w/ Adam Green
+ w/ Flowers Forever
Lightspeed Champion – No Surprise (Acoustic) – From Galaxy of the Lost
