Rarely have I run into a band that actually sounds better live than on their record, but on October 29th, 2009 English band Noah and The Whale did just that at the Lakeshore Theater alongside their opener, American musician Robert Francis.
I went into the concert not entirely familiar with Noah and The Whale only having listened to thirty-second snippets of their latest album, The First Days of Spring, courtesy of iTunes and by then I summed them up to be another indie band who’s songs consisted of a slow earnest tune with a funeral dirge twinge to it, I’m happy to report how wrong I was. While they did have the ‘slow earnest tune’ I had expected they presented every song with the same new fresh emotion as one would if it were an entirely new song being presented to an audience for the very first time.
American musician Robert Francis opened the show with his raspy heart felt music that gave off the slight vibe of artists like Jeff Buckley and his ability to hit higher notes than most men, the guitar of Tom Petty, and a little bit of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, but I cannot go without saying that while Robert Francis may have similar qualities of these great musicians he certainly has his own unique sound that holds its own power. His performance that night was excellent, but unfortunately I cannot exactly say the same for his band. The other musicians on stage along side him seemed utterly bored to be onstage like they could be somewhere else doing something much more important, other than that the entire performance was fantastic.
The stage at Lakeshore Theater contributed to the entire atmosphere of the show, it gave a feel as though a vaudevillian performance from the 1920’s was about to begin and being a sit down venue the sweaty pushy audience that is more often than not contributed to concerts was taken away and replaced with an electric buzz of excitement for Noah and The Whale to come on stage and once they came on to the stage the theater erupted in applause from a clearly dedicated audience. From then on Noah and The Whale played a variety of songs that to me were all entirely new, but to many of the people around me were familiar and obviously loved. The band did a good job of mixing it up from the melodic and heart-on-my-sleeve type songs to up-beat and fun song that still held more meaning.
As expected, once Noah and The Whale had completed their set list they left the stage for a short while only to return and begin what can only be explained as a wild rumpus of sound like that from Where The Wild Things Are. The encore was an experimental jam session that consisted of more or less every instrument the band owned and an electric toothbrush.
Overall, I think I’m in love. Noah and The Whale is a band that if you haven’t already looked into, you need to, I highly doubt you will be disappointed. Noah and The Whale provides an eclectic and diverse array of songs that anyone who has a place in their hearts for great folk-rock and indie music will thoroughly enjoy.
