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Concert Sun Nov 18 2012
Review/Photos The Fresh and Onlys, Quilt, Radar Eyes @ Lincoln Hall 11/17/12
The Fresh & Onlys five piece (typically in the past, they have played live as a four piece but this time around, they had a female backup vocalist who played keyboards) may have started off a little silly with lead singer Tim Cohen wearing a Chicago shirt and offering the audience an extra beer. The San Francisco band may have even sounded a little sloppy at first as if they were just ready to have some fun with the audience on their Saturday night. But, by the middle of the set, they had evolved into the garage rock stars we've come to know and love with a solid tightness to their very best songs that should have impressed any audience member with a working pair of ears and discerning taste. The fact that Fresh & Onlys songs aren't played on every mainstream radio station just proves the point that mainstream radio isn't really worth listening to. Their hour long set included highlights such as "Waterfall". "20 Days and 20 Nights", "Peacock and Wing" and "Yes or No."
The night began with the consistently great local four piece Radar Eyes whose bassist Kenny Rasmussen jumped constantly like he was on top of an awesome Pogo stick. Meanwhile, their regular drummer was at the hospital because she had just reportedly gone into labor but the drummer filing in was exceptional enough that he did not falter in the slightest. Their sound can be edgy but is still a bit more poppy than some of the other bands on the Hozac label. They bring a fantastic sense of invigorating energy to every set and this was no exception. For those less sure of how much fun they would have at Lincoln Hall last Saturday, Radar Eyes should have helped convince them!
The second opener, Boston three piece Quilt brought a much different sort of vibe to the evening. With their myriad of pedals, they played a more psychedelic folk influenced set with no bass present (only two guitars), female and male harmonizing on vocals and keyboards at times. They also played with a quilt over their drum kit and their drummer wrote a raccoon hat and a bright red pajama onesie as if he was a very tired Davy Crockett ready to settle in for the night. What was perhaps most impressive about them was how well they had established their sound especially for being so young and, although their set wasn't nearly as energetic as Radar Eyes, they were really into their own tracks, playing them like they meant every chord progression and lyric and that surely counts for something
