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Surfer Blood – Il Motore – Friday, March 5th, 2010

March 6, 2010 in Show Reviews

You could say I had only some expectations for last night’s “festival” of rock music at Il Motore. Headlining band Surfer Blood was obviously the main reason for the large turnout and although their rising popularity in the indie rock world isn’t exactly a secret, I almost felt like there was something to be desired from this band going into last night. Expectations were not high, nor were they low, but I’ll put it this way: the show packed quite a punch.

Vancouver B.C.‘s Yukon Blonde — who were originally not playing the same venue and night as Turbo Fruits and Surfer Blood — opened the floodgates with extreme precision and intensity. Just one month after the release of their debut, self-titled LP, the band played a relatively short set of songs off the album including the bright, harmonious “Blood Cops,” and the Crosby, Stills and Nash flavored “Wind Blows.” Although the sound mix could have been better last night, the band, led by Jeff Innes and Brandon Scott, churned out a performance that more than lived up to the great, easy-listening sound of their studio LP. Mind you, at this point, I guess it’s fair to say that all the hype surrounding this Canadian band is well deserved.

What the boys of Yukon Blonde led on this night was a pattern of great musicianship that continued with the charmingly rowdy Turbo Fruits of Nashville, Tennessee. I must admit that I was skeptical about this performance after listening to some of their stuff on Myspace, but to sum it all up in a few words, it’s definitely not fair to judge a band before you truly experience them before your own eyes. I guess that means I should see Avatar. A very concise outing saw the band finish their set as fast as they began, but not before the stage-front crowd started to “mosh.” Yes, some sort of “moshing” was going on. I know, right? Highlighting the set were “On The Road,” and the obviously cool and Thorogood-esque “Mama’s Mad Cos I Fried My Brain.”

More “moshing” came with another short performance, this time by headliners Surfer Blood. Getting top marks from a lot of critics for their debut LP, Astro Coast, the album opener seemed like a good choice to open their set last night and that’s exactly what they did. By the time West Palm Beach, Florida’s Surfer Blood hit the stage, most of the people in attendance had shifted from the bar to right in front of the stage, and although the band had one instance of technical difficulties before “Twin Peaks,” it was mostly smooth sailing from then on. There were some great moments beyond the music as well during this set, when second guitarist Thomas Fekete broke out a guitar solo using a drum stick to navigate along the guitar neck, which most to the delight of the fans. It was too bad though, that, because of the sound mix, we couldn’t get more of lead singer/frontman John Paul Pitts’ cool, airy vocals throughout the set. But the band was definitely in full swing when they ended their set with crowd pleaser and fan favorite “Swim.” Finally, after endless chanting of “ENCORE!” from the audience, the band surfed back into another track: an untitled new song that left everyone happy and craving the next batch from Blood. – Jordan Ghetler