Brooklyn is the place to be. I think that Brooklyn, Long Beach, and Oakland are all somehow related. We all have big city neighbors but a more relaxed environment where you want to hang out and go to shows outside of the big venues controlled by big corporations.
On Valentine’s night Jelly NYC threw a Band of Horses show at the Masonic Lodge in Brooklyn. Apparently the lodge has recently been putting on shows and I was excited to head over and check out the venue. Double bonus points that it was only a few stops down the line on the G train.
Due to dinner taking a lot longer than expected…..who actually eats out on Valentine’s Day?…. we arrived a bit late to the show and it looked like BoH had been rockin’ for a bit. They sounded great as they mixed up tracks from Cease to Begin and Everything All the Time. I doubt I’ve ever been in a Masonic Lodge before but it had a lot of the cool stuff you’d hope to find. There were vaulted ceilings, lots of marble looking columns, and it looked like nothing had change for forty or fifty years. There was a perfectly sized balcony that horseshoed around three-quarters of the room. We camped out between the sound board and the bar/beer table at the back of the venue and caught maybe seven or eight songs while catching up with friends.
Oh… yes…. the music. Band of Horses have helped create a new Pacific Northwest sound that will soon spawn some new players in the likes of Fleet Foxes and Grand Archives. For fans of BoH, Grand Archives features Mat Brooke, the guitarist from BoH’s first album. BoH has grown to six members which has filled out their sound and allowed them to break out and rock intermittently. I think when we got their they were rocking Funeral which sounded good and is probably their biggest song. Wasn’t it used for a commercial or something? Soon after was Ode to LRC which is possibly my least favorite song of theirs but still sounded a lot better live than on record. They also busted out a couple odd covers. Effigy by CCR closed out the first set and Feeling Stronger by Chicago finished the encore. They were cool but didn’t really grab me nor got me excessively rocking out. Hmm… maybe that sounds like I wasn’t really into it or having fun but I was. Hopefully I’ll get to see them again soon and can focus a bit more on the tunes.
Let’s hope for more shows at the Masonic Temple and for the wonderful JellyNYC people. Word on the streets is the Pool Parties might be returning this year… whoot whoot!
