Despite the cold outside, it was a hot night in the bars downtown this Wednesday. Pipeline Production's annual Holiday Extravaganza at the Bottleneck and DJ ParLe' at Fatso's brought out the crowds for two wholly different, but intriguing shows.
The Bottleneck hosted the "Totally F*cking Do it!" (TFDI) tour on its stop in Lawrence. The tour has brought together three great guitarists, whose voices and instrumentals combined made a fantastic show for the folks brave enough to travel the icy roads. The TFDI tour of Jay, Tony and Matt is a collaboration of the three artists' individual performances as well as their work together to create even more dynamic, impressive songs as a group. Jay Nash, Tony Lucca and Matt Duke are each well-practiced guitarists, capable of capturing the attention an audience alone. With all three on stage, the Bottleneck experienced a brilliant mix of folk rock rarely heard.
The harmony of the three singers brought a new depth to every song, adding contrast and greater ranges of notes from the vocals. Their guitars taking different rhythms and melodies completely fleshed out every tune, creating the same full experience one might only expect to hear from a band of various instruments. Playing familiar covers of old folk hits, the three bards brought the crowd into the mix with choruses everyone knows. Altogether Jay Nash, Tony Lucca and Matt Duke worked in perfect cohesion.
If you've ever heard of any of these three musicians, or you're just a fan of folk rock, the cumulative work of TFDI is well worth checking out. Odds are you will like these artists, one and all.
After the three musicians put down their guitars, the Bottleneck's stage was open for karaoke. Unfortunately the crowd was a small, modest group of Pipeline Productions' friends, too happy with the buffet of food and cheap drink prices. But a lively show was just about the get started across downtown. Down the street at Fatso's, DJ ParLe' was slowly collecting a crowd of joyful youths, relieved to be finished with finals, or just free for the night.
The DJ's mix of hip-hop, pop and dance songs was more than sufficient background music for a crowd of heavy drinkers. Fatso's Wednesday night specials were $1 Wells, $2 for bottles of beer and some other reasonably good deal. However as far as creating an actual focus of entertainment, DJ ParLe' left something to be desired.
The tunes and mixes on the playlist were fine, and the crowd obviously didn't disapprove, but the bass was turned up so ridiculously loud that it was impossible to discern what song was being played most of the time. Any actual DJing being done aside from clicking Play on iTunes and turning the bass knob all the way up was lost on everyone. Thankfully after a few $1 Wells nobody seemed to notice. The dance floor got its share of drunken party people and the bar was completely packed. A bar-full of The North Face jackets and oddly-angled baseball caps aside - the crowd was a full-on party of happy drunks. And after all, what better way to measure the success of a bar/show than the satisfaction of the audience?
Fatso's successfully brought out a weekend crowd on this weeknight like no average bar could. It just goes to show that the quality and creative force behind music is not always what draws the biggest crowd. Most people out on a Wednesday night just want to drink.
Now for Previews:
If you missed DJ ParLe' or just can't get enough booming bass in your ears, check out The Club with DJ ParLe' this Saturday night at Fatso's for $3. The doors open at 9 p.m. and beats start at 10.
Friday, December 31st, The Floozies are playing a New Year's Eve concert with Beans & Cornbread and Inflect for $10-12. This combination of funky jams and hip-hop will bring in the New Year like no other party in Lawrence. The Floozies big fan base in Lawrence and a whole lot of fun folks will be out at the Bottleneck for this show, so do not miss it!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment