MMS did not disappoint. Mason Proper was my first gig, and they were amazing. I liked what I heard of them online but they killed it in person. They’re amazing! Everyone else fortunate enough to catch the show completely agreed. But here are details summing up my experience.

Thursday

After the Mason Proper show, I headed down to the Mel for Mike’s show (Hate the Drake). I met up with lots of MS people and had a grand ol’ time. Dan & I laughed outloud for the first 2 songs. It was a really good time. I headed out to The Vogue after that to catch Murder By Death & Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s. MBD was pretty damn cool…they had irish roots in their sound & lyrics, but I must say I prefer them live to their CD. Mike was friends with their tour manager so he got the free hook-up on that.

The Margot show was nothing short of fantastic, as always. I smuggled my way to right in front of the stage to grab some shots. I must say, aside from them playing my favorite song, Talking in Code, the highlight was the ending. I don’t even remember which song they played but the members of Everything, Now! and other random people including santa claus joined them on stage and banged cymbals and whatever they could find to make this joyous monster orchestra. It reminded me of the orchestra part in The Beatle’s “A day in the life”. Richard & Emily came back on stage to play another song, and so it still ended so sweetly.

And Mike officially became a Margot fan that night after all the shit he’s talked about them. I tried telling him. So we (Mike, Steph, Ben, & Dan) lingered around The Vogue for awhile before heading to Hot Box for a late night snack. It was 1:30am at that point, all of us had thoughts of getting up for work looming over us. It was all good though. We’ve done all the signage & branding for Hot Box, so they hooked us up with a free pizza, as we sat under the mural of Mike, that Ben & Dan painted and hung out with Gabe, the owner. Selfishly, I was completely excited to find that my tagline “Score with your hottest neighbor.” made it on to the cups and my other “Hot, legal, and delivered to your door” was on the box. Pretty sweet. If you ever visit, you’ll also have to check out my description of the alfredo sauce on the menu board. We were telling Gabe how completely wrong our conversation was when we were brainstorming for that stuff. So umm…music talk aside for awhile, it was really, really cool to hang out with a client like that and sort of sit amongst your work. That’s a rare experience. Mike rocked it on all the signage & designs though. Pretty damn cool.

Friday

Rachel’s flight was delayed so she didn’t join me til 10ish. I caught the last minute of the last song of Petticoat, Petticoat to start off the night. Then I saw a bit of Emerson Rose. They were solid if you’re in to metal. Then The Merediths apparently cancelled so their shoes were filled by 3 random local guys that finally decided to call themselves “The Broken Raincoats” after someone yelled at them to make up a name. They had some shakey parts but vocals were solid, and so I left impressed. From there, I checked out Pravada, whose members compose most of Margot. They played at Indy CD & Vinyl, and some Margot members showed up to see them and trumpet guy joined in for a bit. They were fantastic as well, despite the drunken fools behind me. Also, I encountered this really cute guy who was doing the music mixing between bands and taking photos. I recognized him from some online profile site. No, I didn’t talk to him, because I’m a wuss. Unfortunately, I have yet to find him online again but I’m sure we’ll cross paths again. And we did, later at the Vogue haha.

Rach showed up after Pravada so we headed to the stage outside the alley cat, which was completely awesome, since it had just rained, which created a great atmosphere. We watched Brighton, MA and we both liked them. Heard a little bit of Catfish Haven inside, but it was too crowded to get close so we chilled by the bar. We checked out the Tractor Kings—they have potential but didn’t hold our attention. We ventured to the Vogue for the big headliners of the night, The Elms & The Virgin Millionaires. Again, we were “eh” and went back to the jazz cooker for Pennycuff. But Pennycuff wasn’t playing, it was this great band Kunek. Rach scoured for 15 minutes to find an ATM to buy their CD. Really nice sound, and it was absolutely amazing live.

Saturday

I fell asleep and missed The Apparitions…yet again, so started off the night with Dan’s band, The Polyester Starfish. I thought they were a lot better than Birdy’s, but the singer still has some theatrics that annoy me :) Rach met up with me there and we ventured down to the outdoor stages by Connor’s Pub and saw Headlights & The Brakes. Two separate bands, but clearly there was a theme. Both were completely different. Headlights were a great, Arcade Fire-esque indie band, while The Brakes were rockabilly rockers from Philly. The latter had no crowd, save for rach & myself most their show, but finally, people realized they were awesome.

We spent the rest of the night at Rouge. Saw John’s band, I Don’t So Now I Do, and they had a new song they closed with which I really liked. After that was the new brainchild of the leader singer of The Malcontents, Sharon. I must admit the sound she put together for Kink Ador was rockin’. They played a really strong set. I’d see them again. We met up with Rach’s sister & people after that and went back to Rouge. Saw Captains of Industry & Cabin. Both were good but I didn’t take photos, since we had secured a lovely table and I didn’t feel like fighting my way forward.

Finished off the night there with Page France out of Baltimore, MD. They were good but I didn’t love them. Singer had a very back woods, almost bluegrassy voice. It seemed a little out of place with their sound, but it was better once I got over the shock value. The night ended with Pravada, who I can officially say I’m a huge fan of now, despite thinking they sucked when I saw them a year ago. Emily of Margot joined them on stage w/ accordian and trumpet guy made another random reappearance. I need to buy their CD.

Summary

MMS was pretty stellar. I wish I’d caught a few more bands, but so it goes. I did get tons of concert photo practice time in, so slowly but surely I will become amazing at it. It was great hanging out with Rachel. I’m not sure I could have handled all 3 nights going around by myself. Anyway, it was great times, and I’m pumped about next year. Maybe I’ll volunteer or something *shrug* :)

In other music news, I was introduced to the band Amandine, and I really like what I heard. Also, M. Ward’s new album, post war, is streaming live on mergerecords.com and it’s fantastic. Definitely worth a listen!

Quotes of the Weekend

“Apparently, there’s a dress code to be in that band…”
“and a weight limit”

“like a preschool crabs epidemic”

“My name’s Melanie”