Leagues, Legends and Queens?

The past two nights have been nothing short of a musicalgasm for me. After counting the days until, I finally got to spend not one... but TWO nights enjoying the splendid sounds of both The Legends AND the Acid House Kings (whom Ivy League, while on stage, hilariously dubbed the "Acid House Queens" for their sweetness and great pancake making skills). By far one of my top 5 shows ever attended, and if you missed it... you deserve a slap in the face. But hey, if you're in D.C. or Philly (Boston was tonight), there's still a chance for you in the next two days before they head back to Sweden. Check their myspace page for the locations.

One thing I really appreciated about the performances is that, regardless of the venue, the sound was fantastic all around. I wasn't sure how The Legends were going to transcribe live, but 12 seconds into the first song... I was relieved of my worries.

The first venue, Cake Shop, is notorious for it's narrowed sound... but even standing up front, I was able to fully enjoy the show. The vocals did become a little washed out during the more guitar heavy parts, but that's what you get when you stand close. The bill of bands fit perfectly together (I think that's a first for Cake Shop), and the crowd was fantastic. If you had to pick a large group of strangers to be packed in and sweaty with, Saturday night's crowd would have been the creme de la creme.

As far as the opening bands, there were a couple of pleasant introductions for me. Ivy League (who are on the same label with Acid House Kings, Twentyseven Records) were a soft and lovely beginning to a night that was going to intensify... much like some of their songs. I had read about them and the myriad of references to Simon and Garfunkle before, but it wasn't until actually seeing them live that I felt the references as well as a strong vocal resemblance to Belle & Sebastian.

After that (and my brain is on overload so I've forgotten the correct order) were White Rabbits and Mixel Pixel. I had heard Mixel Pixel before and definitely like their sound, but I was beginning to feel a little heated and walked upstairs for a break of fresh air. When White Rabbits came on stage, I had to stick around to check it out because their keyboardist looked a mix of Indiana Jones and Duckie (from Pretty In Pink). And anybody who knows me, knows my crush on those two. Not only did they look good, they actually sounded amazing. Kind of a mix of the Rapture and !!! sound, but I really can't fully describe it and give it any justice until I have a second go at listening. And that'll be a couple of months, because they're currently recording it.

Well kids, I'm about done with yapping since I'm not much of a yapper, so here's the part where I give you the goods I brought for you to take part in.

Here are some of the live photos I snapped, from both the Cake Shop and North Six performances. Click on the thumbnail for the full picture (Note: I was still adjusting to the settings on the camera in the dark throughout a lot of these. Please forgive some of the fuzziness):

Ivy League:




The Legends:





Acid House Kings:




To see the rest of the photos, just go to the Flickr account. And If anyone wants to use any of these, email me.

There's also videos! Yes, I tried to keep steady, but it ain't perfect. These are somewhat large, so give quite a few minutes for each one. Eventually I'll get the right program to size them down and format them for quicktime, but for now this is what I've got:

Acid House Kings:
This Heart Is A Stone Live.wmv (Cake Shop)
Keep Your Love Live.wmv (Cake Shop)
Do What You Wanna Do Live.wmv (North Six. Only partial song, memory cut out.)

The Legends:
Play It For Today Live.wmv (Cake Shop)
The Kids Just Wanna Have Fun Live.wmv (North Six)

Ivy League:
Modern World Live.wmv (North Six)
London Bridges.mp3 (not a video, but a song you should hear)

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

(Special thanks to Clyde of Twentyseven Records for the list spots, and to Johan for being such a nice talker.)

- LB