The Dodos last migration to AVL was a year ago March where they played a pretty full Harvest in-store. This year they got upgraded to The Grey Eagle and the show was packed. It’s nice to see great bands gain a local audience that quickly. Yeah, we <3 our town like that.
First up was the Durham band of brothers, Megafaun. Brothers Brad and Phil Cook and Joe Westerlund used to be in a band with Justin Vernon (you know, that Bon Iver dude). Now that Bon Iver has gone on hiatus, we hope that Megafaun gets the spotlight. They’ve got awesome harmonies reminiscent of Fleet Foxes and a dynamic live presence often jumping into the crowd to finish their songs. I preferred the live show to the record and even then preferred when they left the electronics out of it.
Indie pop New Zealanders, The Ruby Suns, were up second and they gave me a good opportunity to get another PBR and some delicious bread pudding from Twin Cousins.
The crowd swelled and welcomed The Dodos. It was hard to get anywhere near the front, but standing on our toes on a chair in the back, we could see that they expanded from a minimalist two-piece to a stage busting three-piece with that addition of a second percussionist, Keaton Snyder. There is a complete lack of pretension with these guys who were just rocking the t-shirts and hoodies and I mean rocking. High energy, killer show. See them next time when I’m sure they’ll be headlining at The Orange Peel.
For those of us who love and miss Exploding Hearts, Gentleman Jesse and His Men opened for Reigning Sound at Stella Blue on the same day Paste Magazine declared Jesse’s debut album, Introducing Gentleman Jesse and His Men, to be their #19 choice for best albums for 2008.
If you are looking for even more to do on Saturday, you can head up to Montford for their 5th annual street fair. There will music of all sorts ranging from folk to folk rock and plenty of Montford artists as well as food by Greenlife and Twin Cousins.
The Liars and No Age tour is still on despite Angus’ recent badass back injury. If the pain killers last that long, they’ll be playing The Orange Peel on Wednesday, February 13. It’s the perfect pre-Valetine’s gift for your significant other who loves to rock out.
Stars playing The Orange Peel on March 20 is just another awesome reason to stick with Asheville through this cold weather instead of heading further south.
