Sometimes the balcony offers the best view

Generally I like to get right down in front when I see any band, but I've been known to stay in the balcony at the Pour House, especially when seeing a band like The Love Language. They've now gotten to the point where any time they play, the club is going to be packed with people who react almost in a Shamanistic way. That photo was taken after Stu McLamb invited the audience up on the stage (much to soundman Jac Cain's chagrin), but it shows what was happening throughout the show: arms flailing, bodies thrashing, heads banging. Seriously. I saw one dude literally head banging and whipping his hair. That made the balcony the best place to be in order to avoid getting mauled and to snap photos like the one above. BTW, I love the zombie-looking girl holding up the blue camera.

Thursday's show was my first time seeing the new Love Language line-up, and true to reports, it's both stripped down and more polished. With fewer people on stage, the show seems more straightforward. I have to say I miss seeing Jordan McLamb (the tall guy who used to play acoustic guitar and tambourine) dancing around out front. He's now behind the drum kit and doing a fine job of it. Check out their version of "Providence" from Thursday and see what you think.




Thursday's show was very heavy on  the old material. In fact, I think they only played one new song, and that was during the encore.

Light Pines were one of the openers (didn't get there in time to see the first band), and they once again blew me away. Seriously, I think they're my favorite local band of the moment, and I will be at Tir na Nog next Thurday to see them again. They remind me a lot of the T's, not musically, but in the way that they sound really familiar, but at the same time don't sound exactly like anyone in particular. They sound like an amazing, long-lost band from the '80s, one that only college DJs from that era would remember. Bass-driven, but with lots of guitar and keyboards, dancable, but not in a disco sort of way. Very much like The Bolshoi with elements of U2, INXS and New Order. Check them out below.

Why Max Indian is my new favorite band

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that last night I tweeted that "Max Indian makes me feel like I've just discovered music." That wasn't the PBR talking. Max Indian is my new favorite band, and I believe the best band in the Triangle, because they make me feel the way I felt at about age 11 when music became something more than something I heard on the radio in the car with my mom. It became something something comforting and energizing. Something to analyze and obsess over. Something to inspire me to read the liner notes of my brother's and uncle's records, to learn the connections between bands, and read magazines like Creem and Rolling Stone.

For me that happened around 1977, which is why I still unappollogetically love Kansas, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Jackson Browne, Hall & Oates and Boston. If Max Indian had been around during that time, my brother and my uncle (may they both rest in peace) would have worn out more than one copy of the band's 8-track while cruising the Circle in Atlantic Beach. And I, wanting to be just like them, would have thought they were the greatest band in the world. Which is why they're my favorite band now.


My old college buddy Jac Cain, soundman at the Pour House, apparently like Max Indian a lot too - or at least he really likes this song, which is what the banter at the beginning of the video is all about.

At last night's Double Barrel Benefit for WKNC, I also got to experience two other bands I hadn't seen before, Bellafea, who I liked, and Light Pines, who I absolutely loved. That's not surprising considering that Light Pines is made up of three members of Max Indian and three members of The Love Language, whose debut CD was my top release of the year. Looking forward to checking these guys out again.