It was a good show, though I was disappointed with the size of the crowd and the length of their set. Given that the city is in the throws of the SXSW film festival, and getting ready for the music festival though, I guess it was okay. "Why" was great, though it took the sound guy all of that song to catch up with all 6 people onstage. The rest of the show was a good mix, but that one was a little rough. Starting the next one out on a more quiet tone helped him too, I think. The crowd was also talking in that typical bar fashion, but to David's (and the band's) they shut up and listened 2 or 3 songs in.
All in all, the band was really tight, going from one song to another quickly, the playing was good, and the takes on the songs were all good. I was thrilled when they did one of my favorite DB songs... The Waiter, but at first I couldnt' figure out what was wrong with it... then I realized there was no power saw onstage. I took to the new instrumentation quickly and thought it was a great version. Another standout was Hellbound Train... not one of my favorite tunes on AFM but they rocked it out...definitely a good choice for a closer. The encore, Heroes, is another of my alltime favorites, but seemed to be lacking something... I'm not sure what.
It would have been nice to hear more of the great harmonies that flow through AFM, but the rest of the New Folk Underground didn't utilize their mics much... hopefully that will change as they play out more. I'd also like to see them again when they have a full set instead of one hour... it would have been nice to have them linger in some of the songs a bit more, and not feel like they were flying through the set list as quickly as they could, but that is how you have to do it for SXSW (sets are a max 45 minutes for the festival, more often 20 minutes) and I'm guessing this was a warmup for that gig later in the week.
It was a good show.. my girlfriend (who doesn't know his music, despite my playing it around the house) was dancing and tapping her foot, and laughing at David's great way with words, as well as him shuffling the thick pile of lyrics papers in front of him, and forgetting the words in the first verse of The Waiter. Everyone else there seemed to enjoy it too...
Stephen
DB at Stubb's in austin
S
Stephen
(view)
It was a good show, though I was disappointed with the size of the crowd and the length of their set. Given that the city is in the throws of the SXSW film festival, and getting ready for the music festival though, I guess it was okay. "Why" was great, though it took the sound guy all of that song to catch up with all 6 people onstage. The rest of the show was a good mix, but that one was a little rough. Starting the next one out on a more quiet tone helped him too, I think. The crowd was also talking in that typical bar fashion, but to David's (and the band's) they shut up and listened 2 or 3 songs in.
All in all, the band was really tight, going from one song to another quickly, the playing was good, and the takes on the songs were all good. I was thrilled when they did one of my favorite DB songs... The Waiter, but at first I couldnt' figure out what was wrong with it... then I realized there was no power saw onstage. I took to the new instrumentation quickly and thought it was a great version. Another standout was Hellbound Train... not one of my favorite tunes on AFM but they rocked it out...definitely a good choice for a closer. The encore, Heroes, is another of my alltime favorites, but seemed to be lacking something... I'm not sure what.
It would have been nice to hear more of the great harmonies that flow through AFM, but the rest of the New Folk Underground didn't utilize their mics much... hopefully that will change as they play out more. I'd also like to see them again when they have a full set instead of one hour... it would have been nice to have them linger in some of the songs a bit more, and not feel like they were flying through the set list as quickly as they could, but that is how you have to do it for SXSW (sets are a max 45 minutes for the festival, more often 20 minutes) and I'm guessing this was a warmup for that gig later in the week.
It was a good show.. my girlfriend (who doesn't know his music, despite my playing it around the house) was dancing and tapping her foot, and laughing at David's great way with words, as well as him shuffling the thick pile of lyrics papers in front of him, and forgetting the words in the first verse of The Waiter. Everyone else there seemed to enjoy it too...
Stephen
All in all, the band was really tight, going from one song to another quickly, the playing was good, and the takes on the songs were all good. I was thrilled when they did one of my favorite DB songs... The Waiter, but at first I couldnt' figure out what was wrong with it... then I realized there was no power saw onstage. I took to the new instrumentation quickly and thought it was a great version. Another standout was Hellbound Train... not one of my favorite tunes on AFM but they rocked it out...definitely a good choice for a closer. The encore, Heroes, is another of my alltime favorites, but seemed to be lacking something... I'm not sure what.
It would have been nice to hear more of the great harmonies that flow through AFM, but the rest of the New Folk Underground didn't utilize their mics much... hopefully that will change as they play out more. I'd also like to see them again when they have a full set instead of one hour... it would have been nice to have them linger in some of the songs a bit more, and not feel like they were flying through the set list as quickly as they could, but that is how you have to do it for SXSW (sets are a max 45 minutes for the festival, more often 20 minutes) and I'm guessing this was a warmup for that gig later in the week.
It was a good show.. my girlfriend (who doesn't know his music, despite my playing it around the house) was dancing and tapping her foot, and laughing at David's great way with words, as well as him shuffling the thick pile of lyrics papers in front of him, and forgetting the words in the first verse of The Waiter. Everyone else there seemed to enjoy it too...
Stephen
