If you were like me and found yourself without a ride to this year’s Coachella Festival, then you would have found the Echo Plex with The Walkmen to give you that much needed music fix on Saturday night.
After a quick stop at Amoeba to pick up the latest single from Arctic Monkeys for the B-side “Temptation Greets You Like Your Naughty Friend”, which I cannot get out of my head, I made my way up Sunset to Echo Park. If you haven’t been to the brand spankin’ new Echo Plex yet then I’d highly recommend you get yourself in line for something there. They’ve done an amazing job of it down stairs from the Echo. Anyway, I arrived with just enough time to catch the last song of Magic Bullets’ set, which had most in attendance packed up against the stage. The sound was solid enough to warrant a listen at their myspace and to look for some upcoming shows.
Foreign Born took the stage next with the lights a little bit lower and a few more heads in the house they offered the perfect prelude to the Walkmen on this night. Having seen them a number of times now in the last few months I’m amazed at how their sound has developed since the first time I saw them when they opened for We Are Scientists at the El Rey some time back. Not that there was anything bad to say about them before, just that’s it’s fun to see a band grow and explore musically. Their set went down fantastic with a number of friends joining in on a couple of tunes including “Union Hall” throughout the night. Look for them live soon and also the first full length with is due sometime around August.
With a short break between sets the Walkmen brought their no non-sense style to the stage for about an hours worth of music that would have folks cheering for even a second encore when they were done. This being my first time checking them out live I wasn’t sure how they’d pull everything together in this setting. When they brought up the horn section for tunes like “Louisiana” and others I quite pleased indeed. Then again, how else would they do it? I do love a live horn section though and they shined. Front man Hamilton Leithauser has the makings of a Tom Waits in his performance; if not as low down and gruff, definitely all the soul with an intensity all his own. The band was equally impressive without a bad thing to say except maybe a few more songs might have been nice.
So, with a single Hef under my belt I made my way into the night with the “bah bop bop bah bop” of the horns of “Louisiana” ringing in my head and a smile on my face.
Until next time! Cheers!
