Show Review

I wrote this up back in December, just before Christmas after seeing the Adam Ezra group in concert:


After seeing the Adam Ezra Group with Carbon Leaf, I was able to see them again shortly after when they came up to play at Nectar's. I'm happy to report that the speakers were able to keep up with the musicians this time around (remembering the sound quality of the last time that I was here, with Grace Potter & The Nocturnals)

The opening band during this show was called Carlson, which broke my okay streak of good bands for the past couple of performers. These guys have spirit, I'll give them that, and a bit of youthful energy of a band newly formed, but they have a long way to go here.
Sound-wise, they sound somewhat like a not-as-good Bright Eyes, at least vocally. Bright Eyes can pull off their sound. These guys can't.
This show seems to be made up of songs from David Bowie's album, Ziggy Stardust. It's a very uneven affair for these guys - a couple of songs are covered okay, such as Star Man and Ziggy Stardust, but the majority of these aren't that great.
They do pull out some good sounds here and there, particularly their guitarist, but for the most part, this isn't consistent. The two vocalists had a hard time sticking together, as well as the instrumentals - guitars, drums and bass also had some trouble lining up to any good level. There are times when they get into an energetic rock song that sounds like most rock songs out there, but this isn't a consistent thing by any means.
My first impression of these guys was that they're a couple of college students who thought that a band was a good idea. While that idea remains fairly unclear, they do have some potential, but it's a little ways down the road. What we have here is an initial foundation that could certainly lead somewhere down the road, but that's a fairly unclear path at this point, and to make any sort of prediction now would probably be premature. Hopefully, they'll settle on a sound that'll at least work. Some more practice sessions in the garage probably won't hurt either.

Random quote from guy : Oh, everyone still sober? My bad.

Ziggy Stardust and the Space Invaders from Mars - Entire Set covered

Adam Ezra Group

These guys where a huge step up from the Carltons. They started off strong with their jam/rock/funk sound. Like last time, they've got a good mix in vocals and instruments that's pretty together. Their sound works really well in Nectar's, and they drew a pretty good crowd. And, once again, it looked like they were having fun on stage - they've got a great energy and vibe for the crowd. They seem to have an even greater energy than before, when they opened for Carbon Leaf, which is great.
It seems that this smaller venue is really where these guys are at home, at least for now - their energy really works in a smaller place such as Nectar's, especially with their higher energy songs. While this might change over time, they really dominated the space and sound of the room, and got the crowd moving up in front. They didn't just go for the high energy, which is a plus in their direction - several songs slowed down the pace, but not so much the intensity and focus. This was a bit of a step up from my first viewing of them, which I was very pleased to hear. I think these guys have quite a bit of potential within New England, and hopefully down the road, larger portions of the country. That being said, I think that there's still minor things to be done with their sound at times, but they're well on their way.
I only stayed around to listen to these guys to around 1:30. I had an hour drive back home and didn't want to get too tired for the drive back - There was probably another six or seven songs beyond what I have written down on the set list.

Set List
1 - Shine the Light on my Sister, Mama
* 2 - "For a while"
* 3 - Small Town City (Thanks!)
* 4 - Waiting (New Song)
5 - I say ... turn around ... take one dime
6 - All the Time ... sings out
7 - all my memories ... in my eyes. walk around this down with my hair pulled down.
8 - On The Crawl
* 9 - Western Man
* 10 - sometimes you just slide, back on the road down an open path ... back on the long...
11 - Ain't No Use (Adam Solo) (don't think twice it's alright)
12 - For a thousand years or more (Cover) no mess? romance? (Adam & Turtle)
13 - Coste Seega Rege? - South African (Adam & Turtle)
14 - Cover Man
(The band played on until past 1:30. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish writing down the set list, as my laptop ran out of battery power.)

So, pretty good night, if you ignore the first band. Adam Ezra's supposed to be back up in Vermont soon, and I'll definitely try and make it out to see them again.

Judas - Adam Ezra Group

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