Everise /
Petrograd in Transit /
El Ten Eleven -
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
The Orpheum
Tampa, FL
To use an analogy, this was a show that I would have waited for the DVD rather than see it in the theater. Maybe it was the 10:00pm doors coupled with the 7:00am alarm before and after. Maybe it was the high hopes brought on by Unwed Sailor / Sybris two weeks prior. Whatever the culprit, I left The Orpheum feeling like I had just left my office: eager to get home.
Local underage drinkers Everise were probably the biggest reason why I felt this way. As a tactful person, I’ll simply say that Everise would have been much better suited playing at a prom night after-party. Sorry guys, but you were way out of your element and your league.
I really wanted to like Petrograd in Transit. Their 2007 debut EP Lifesize Balloon Animals (which can be downloaded legitimately at Wise Owl Records) was a competent installment to the anthemic post-rock catalogue. Petrograd in Transit have a rich, full sound spiked with 80’s new wave style electronics to keep things fresh. It’s great to know that Tampa/St. Petersburg can produce musicians skillful enough to take on this technical, composition intensive style of music and come out victorious. But live…I’m not quite as convinced, not yet anyway. For me, the set lacked sufficient volume and energy to put it over the top. The loud didn’t seem loud enough, and the hallmark crescendo of the post-rock sound didn’t quite reach the epic climax that was alluded to. I’ve read and heard many wonderful things about the live aspect of Petrograd in Transit, and I’m looking forward to our next encounter in early July at a much better venue, so it’s a mulligan for now.
Fortunately, El Ten Eleven shattered the mold of disappointment that shaped the evening. Watching Kristian Dunn and Tim Fogarty construct and layer songs brick by brick was truly riveting, and is something I would reccomend to anyone that appreciates music and composition. This was a rare opportunity to observe musicianship at a level that seldom sees the light of day, let alone the dark and cavernous void that is a Wednesday night show in Tampa. The set was filled with old favorites, new material (expect a new album anytime now) and a cover of Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android” that seemed a little out of place, but absolutely slayed.
El Ten Eleven were the special effects that made the previous hours of excruciating dialog and fruitless plot worth sitting through.
SAL Review of El Ten Eleven’s Every Direction Is North can be read here.
on Jul 3rd, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Hey man. We appreciate you coming out on a Wednesday night to catch us playing with El Ten Eleven (who were amazing). The show on Saturday should be pretty good. THX booked some great bands, and NWB is our favorite place to play. Just in case you’re apprehensive about attending after the 25th, you can catch some videos of us playing New World on our site. Thanks, and take care.
Brian