11/1/07 - White Rabbits, Red Monroe, Record Hop, Burning Hotels

Went to the Cavern on a thursday night - never seen lowest greenville that dead, but there was actually a decent crowd at the cavern.

First up was the Burning Hotels from Ft Worth - 4-man, 2 guitars (mostly). guitar work sometimes reminded me of U2, songs sometimes reminded me of Radiant. all 3 guitarists sang at some point, sometimes all together (love that), great interplay between vocalists, nice harmonies. noticed the drummer workin overtime back there, trickin it up, great job (i don't normally notice the drummer). closed w/ cover. some really nice songs. would definitely see again.

Next up was Record Hop from denton (who i'd never seen before, despite all my trips over there), and holy shit were they good - fuckin incredible, on a totally different level. 4-man (no keys) - just dirty, grungy, bluesy, raw, the kind of stuff that just grips you by the balls, pulls you in, and doesn't let go. the word that kept coming to mind - visceral. this is not the kind of stuff i usually listen to, but damn, was i sold on these guys (and gal). speakin of that, i usually don't care for the female lead vocalist (in a rock band), but ashlee absolutely destroyed my bias on that front. fantastic set - wanted it to go on all night. definitely look forward to catching them again.

Third was Red Monroe, the band that was the main reason i had gone to the show ( i had yet to catch them since their second cd release). their first cd is easily one of my favorites out of all the cd's from local bands that i've accumulated over the last year, so i was looking forward to hearing the new stuff. i have to say, tho, that the new songs just didn't grab me like the old ones. the new songs share the same jangly guitars and whine-shout vocals, but they just seemed to be missing the hook or groove that i came to love from the first cd. it's probably because i'm much more familiar with the old songs, but whenever they played a song from the first cd, it just seemed like it was infinitely better. for some reason, the same vocal stylings that i dug on the first cd grated on my nerves on all the new songs. i don't understand that, but that's what i felt. still plan on gettin the new cd.

headlining was White Rabbits from NYC, who showed (in my opinion) why they deserve the hype (they've been on letterman). these guys are highly skilled songwriters and musicians. 6-man band, usually two drummers (and sometimes a third), giving almost an animal collective feel at some points. really cool songs.

spotted ringo starr in the crowd, i could swear. lotsa sister pants and pointy black shoes, too. seemed like everyone there was either in a band, or a friend of the band.

for the first time in a long time, made it thru the night without "using" the bathroom. yay, me.