A Dose of Rock

Wow. My friend Cody and I saw Anberlin live tonight at House of Blues New Orleans. Meriwether, a band from Baton Rouge, played. They weren't anything special. What a rock show. I mean, a good and sweaty gig is always appreciated, but this has got to be one of the best modern bands in America. Their second album Never Take Friendship Personal won my heart over. Now that I've seen them live, I'm even more in love.

The fans knew the words so well and sang so loudly that most of the concert it was hard to hear the lead singer or even the instruments. Plus, the sound in the place was pretty bad because of the acoustics of the room we were in...but it was an intimate gig, where I was able to reach out and touch Stephen Christian as he jumped around. Cody and I were right in front of the speakers and were temporarily deaf after the concert. (As a matter of fact, as of this writing, he is still experiencing a bothersome ringing in his ears.) I lost my voice, of course, as well.

Talk about a great live show, these guys are so talented musically and rock hard, and just have so much energy it's unbelievable. They've got the image, but the great music to back it up as well. The crowd was out of CONTROL. The moshing, the crowdsurfing, etc.....everyone in the crowd seemed to know every word. Stephen Christian's voice is incredible. I definitely would say it's imperative that you see them if they do a live show in your area. They're very crowd-sensitive, too. They're one of those bands that openly professes their faith but see their music as a profession so don't preach from the stage. But interestingly enough right before they took stage, a clip of the song from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack of that song "As I went down to the river to pray..." played. It seemed like a preface, a declaration of who they were at heart...before they took to the stage and just played great music.

They played every song from their second album, except the slow ballad "The Symphony of Blase." I was right about one thing: they played "Dance, Dance Christa Paffgen." It's a 7-minute ballad and my friend didn't think they would play it. I insisted they would...and wow I loved the song before, but now it's so much more amazing. Definitely the best part of the show.

Plus I got to hang out with Amanda and her best friend Betsy and Cody afterward...we all went down to Cafe Du Monde for beignets. Amanda bought me a cute little yellow monkey that says "Someone from Loyola New Orleans loves me." It is now hanging from the ceiling in my room...it's awesome, I love it!

Oh yeah, sorry, back to rock n' roll. I'll be back at HOB next week for a Switchfoot concert...