The Natural History Museum’s February First Fridays came on a rainy night, but the rain didn’t detract Angelinos of all sorts from making their way out to see Warpaint and Yeasayer. First Fridays has really hit its stride this season, attracting a huge crowd, so much so that this show completely sold out in advance, and the normal reserve of tickets available at the door was gone by 3 p.m.
In this recession era economy First Fridays is a deal at $8. Even more of a deal is becoming a Natural History Museum member for $40. Jeremiah and I joined at First Fridays and one of the perks of membership includes free admission to First Fridays (even when soldout) and access to the member loan services, which allows you to check out taxidermy animals from the NHM’s collection. We can’t wait to exercise this privilege!
Warpaint opened the night and had a much bigger following than I expected. Maybe it’s simply because they’re LA based, but more likely it’s because the band is fronted by three women. Warpaint uses beautiful layered melodies to craft sweet and tender indie pop songs, reminiscent of Tegan and Sara. The mood is a little darker, but the effect is similar. Warpaint’s set proved to be complimentary to the main attraction, because Yeasayer is like the male opposite of Warpaint, with three guys trading off on vocal duties.
It was clear that the soldout crowd was there for Yeasayer as applause shook the wooden halls when they took the stage. Yeasayer hails from the current hot bed of all indie hipster music, Brooklyn. Word on the street is that bands move to Brooklyn now just to say they’re from Brooklyn.
Yeasayer definitely falls into the new genre of indie dance rock, but their sound is more unique than most of the their competitors. Some of Yeasayer’s songs sound like they could belong in an 80s movie, but they also sound current, like a new version of the new wave generation.
The band doesn’t have a single frontman, but rather three who trade vocal duties according to song. Each is so different in terms of their performance, it’s almost like watching three different bands. Every song has its own unique energy and emotion and the sold out crowd voraciously soaked up each one. Before we knew it, Yeasayer said their thanks to an appreciative crowd and exited the stage.
We left the museum with satisfied smiles on our faces and new membership cards in hand.
Next month’s Natural History Museum First Fridays program will feature Deer Tick and Everest. If you have any interest in attending, get your tickets far in advance because it will surely sell out.
