Electric Theory pumps up the Riot Room for Mouth to get wild

The Riot Room attracted a crowd of party people from Kansas City's Westport area and Lawrence folks that weathered the stormy night to make it out to see a great lineup of bands. This reviewer's favorites, Electric Theory and Mouth were big hits with the audience and turned the show into a dance party like no other bands could.

Electric Theory's set received a lot of attention from the crowd, which was previously divided between the indoor bar and the outdoor patio, which also had a bar and featured a DJ spinning hip-hop dance tunes. Their last song was especially epic, exemplifying the band's fantastic style of well-practiced jams, including pulsing bass and drums that are irresistibly dance-able. The crowd was getting down through the thrilling finale and then were left cheering for more as the next band began to set up.

Avant Du Futur, a band with an interesting sound but without an easily-found website, came on next. The foursome's combination of synthesizer mixed sounds, a woman's gorgeous voice and a sorceress of the violin made for some very interesting music. Their style of ambient, techno-infused, haunting melodies took the show through a mysterious trip into subtly growing, pumping dance tunes. The songs all seemed to blend together so the band virtually never paused during their set, but on the downside this included a few long, repetitive streaks that could have been cut down. Still, by the second half of their set the crowd on the dancefloor was moving non-stop to the pulsing rhythms and harmonious violin and vocals.

Two tough acts to follow, but still Mouth stole the show with their ever-improving, polished renditions of some of their best hits, plus new stuff everybody loved. The three-piece band really knows how to throw it down, and made the Riot Room dance floor into a wild party. Every instrument works in sync with the others, and they play off of each other to make every great song into a growing, pumping, funky jam that the crowd takes to quickly. The crowd was getting down from start to finish of this great set. In fact, the members of the band said they were given special permission to "just keep playing" as long as they wanted, enjoying the love and energy of an appreciative crowd to play on through the night.

Great music is worth traveling for, especially when it's at a good venue. The Riot Room is built to bring the audience up to the dance floor from the bar to enjoy the band. The show was partly great thanks to this comfortably spacious and well-designed bar. Most importantly, it was well worth the drive to KC to catch this fantastic show because these bands all threw down heavy sets that everyone enjoyed.