I have been sitting here for 10 minutes, watching a live performance of Stereophonics on Youtube, thinking of the best way to describe the concert on Oct. 4th at the Seattle WA Showbox Market. Not cause it was an awful performance, on the contrary, cause it was literally one of the top 3 concerts I have attended. So let me warm up with the opening band The Wind and The Wave.
Made up of Dwight Baker and Patrica Lynn, this one electric and one acoustic guitar duo have found the secret to rocking like a full band with only two members. I was expecting some soft slow melodic music but got the exact opposite. This duo came out with attitude, raw lyrics, and awesome folk rock hooks. Hooks that can only be found by writing the music that comes natural to these talented artists. Its bands like these that make me happy I always show up early for every concert. Now go download My Mama, Wreckage, and It’s A Longer Road To California Than I Thought.
What came next I was not prepared for and it’s the same reason that attending concerts have never become stale or boring. Even after attending over 70 concerts in three years. The Stereophonics live set was full of the unexpected and rocked harder then the standard song you probably bought on iTunes. Opening with the fast paces song “Catacomb”, the lights changed from bright to dark quickly create an unbelievable atmosphere. At points during the first three songs I noticed I had even stopped breathing and had to slow down a bit. The energy coming from the band and the fans around created an intense atmosphere I have only experience at two other concerts. Such an amazing feeling being blown away by a bands performance and the Stereophonic are masters of it. With recently released album and seven others the set list ranged from old hits like “Pick and Part’s Thats New” and ” Vegas Two Times” to new hits like “Indian Summer” and “Graffiti on a Train”.
Keeping quiet in between songs, lead singer Kelly Jones did leave fans with one stabbing joke. Mentioning the great honor it was to have their song “Maybe Tomorrow” be played at the end of the ending credit of the Academy-award winning move “Crash” but what a disappointment they were not invited to the event. “Fuck’em” he ended as they broke out into “Maybe Tomorrow” with laugh and cheering from the crowd. With a sound similar to that of the band “Train” I would have to say Stereophonic are defiantly tops in my mind. They rock harder and preform the hell out each song. Maybe its the fact they are from Wales. Who knows?
After eight albums and 22 years as a band(they have been freaking around since before I was born) Stereophonic have not lost their pace and look to continue marching on for many years come. Lets all keep out fingers cross that music fans don’t lose these true rock stars.
