11/8/08 - Frightened Rabbit, Spinto Band, Grassfight

headed to denton saturday night, mainly to catch Frightened Rabbit. very glad i did.

first up was Denton's own Grassfight. not bad. kinda gloomy art rock. very joy-division/interpol-ish. lead vocalist had a hard time keeping on-pitch sometimes. wouldn't mind catching them again.next up was the Spinto Band, from delaware. large band, many people on stage. very high-energy pop. a little too happy for my taste, maybe. don't remember a whole lot, but i know it didn't especially captivate me. Frightened Rabbit headlined, and these guys blew me away. I'd heard a couple songs from them on a podcast and really liked it, but I completely fell in love with them saturday night. these guys are officially my New Favorite Band. what an awesome set - beautiful, soaring, emotional, uplifting. the kind of music that makes your heart sing. absolutely love the lead's voice. was amazed to hear most of the crowd singing along to every song. absolutely outstanding set. check them out - you will thank me.

11/1/08 - RTB2, Escort Service, Mike Graff

ok, so i've gotten a little behind. sue me.

headed to the big brothers/big sisters benefit at the city tavern with the piledriver. couldn't find out too much about the line-up and schedule - there was conflicting information everywhere - and sure enough, got down there at 8 only to find out the felons had already played at 6. screw me. great start to the night. so we went back downstairs to continue drinkin and watch the Tech-Texas game and the beautiful people, of which there were many. became huge texas tech fans - one, because they beat texas, and two, because it was beneficial to do so (what is it about women in soccer uniforms that's so freakin hot?).

while the piledriver held down our position, i stumbled back upstairs and caught Mike Graff playing. Solo electric guitar, plus a drummer. very nice stuff. very talented individual. Back downstairs, i met some very nice guatemalans with very interesting tattoos.

at some point, i went back upstairs to catch a few songs by escort service, if only to confirm my opinion about them. it was. confirmed, that is. last up was RTB2. I've seen these guys quite a few times now, and i always have enjoyed it. the piledriver, however, did not share my enthusiasm, and since it was very late and i actually fell asleep during one of the songs (it seemed like they were playing a lot of slow ones that night), we hit the road. overall, not a great night for live music, but a great night for people-watching/leering