7.14.2010 - Greg Laswell, Cary Brothers, Harper Blynn, Isaac Russel @ Radio Radio

The crowd at Radio Radio for Greg Laswell's show was definitely a younger one.  Most people there were probably familiar with Laswell's song "Take Everything" from his newest album "Take a Bow" on 92.3 WTTS in Indy.  That was as familiar as we were with his music when we walked in on Wednesday night, and we hadn't heard anything about the other artists.  The crowd wasn't huge by any means, but there was a fairly good turnout for the show.
 
First up was un-billed artist Isaac Russel - in true singer/songwriter style - just a man and his guitar.  He did a short 4 song set, including a song written after his girlfriend cheated on him with his best friend, and a very touching song about losing his mom to breast cancer.  He's a great artist who seems like he's just getting started, and I hope we get to see him again in the future.

Harper Blynn, a four-piece band from New York took the stage next, and proceeded to blow us away with their catchy riffs and intelligent lyrics.  Possibly the most impressive point of their performance was a cover of Beyonce's "Halo", which was 100x better than the original version.  Their sound was similar to Death Cab, and they had lots of energy onstage.  Even a broken guitar halfway through their set couldn't stop their freight train of intensity.  Some other highlights of their set were:
  • Can't Do It For You
  • 25 Years
  • Lonliest Generation
  • This Is It
Cary Brothers then took the stage, with Harper Blynn as the backing band.  In fact, Harper Blynn was on stage for basically the full night, as they were the band for Greg Laswell also.  Brothers mentioned that people always say his songs are on the sad side, and he's right - they seem to all have a bit of a melancholy sound even when they are happy songs.  He told a pretty funny story about a song he wrote for a former girlfriend for Valentine's Day (not because he's romantic, but because he was broke).  They ended up breaking up, and she always thought he was taking stabs at her in the song.  Somehow she ended up finally understanding that it was just a sweet love song, and emailed him to tell him how sweet it was - so to spite her, he put the song on an album.  Some other highlights from his set:
  • The Glass Parade
  • Under Control
  • Ghost Town
  • Ride
  • A Cover of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"
And last but not least, it was time for Greg Laswell to follow up after some fantastic opening acts.  He spent time playing both guitar and keyboard while singing, and the crowd was really into his set.  He had a great story about a tour he was on - staying in the same room (seperate beds) with a guy he was touring with, he found the movie "My Sister's Keeper" on television and was watching while the other guy slept.  (Laswell has a song in the movie, and he'd never seen it before).  So, long story short, he said whoever made that movie hates people and wants to make them sad...so his tour-mate wakes up, looks at the tv and asks what he's watching, he tells him, and then the guy says "Dude, are you crying?"...and he was. 

Anyway, Laswell also thanked 92.3 for playing "Take Everything", played a stripped-down, joyless cover of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", and a little of The Crash Test Dummies "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm".  It was a great show - great music from some great artists and some hilarious commentary thrown in as icing on the cake.  Check out all of these artists - you won't regret it.

Sunday, July 18, 2010 Posted in | , , , , , , , , | 0 Comments »

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