For the second consecutive Thursday, it was another winning bill from top to bottom at The Echo. The highly anticipated appearance of Detroit's Protomartyr lived up to the hype and then some, and it was a double shot of West Coast tour love from the label Hardly Art, with our favorites Chastity Belt making it back to LA. Local wonders Shark Toys opened the night with a brutally minimal punk set that made our hearts flutter. Chastity Belt, whom we first caught out in Lancaster, CA and then again supporting Courtney Barnett at the Roxy, followed up with a set heavily pegged to last year's Time To Go Home, but found time to feature 3 (three!) new songs. While the sound was a touch wobbly at times, the band interplay remains a joy to behold as they go from strength to strength. Protomartyr took the crowd by the neck and shook them, over the course of a brutally effective set, evidenced best by the crowd damn near drowning out singer Joe Casey at the climax of "Pontiac '87". Truly an unforgettable set.
PROTOMARTYR
calm before the storm...
CHASTITY BELT
Tour perks: Julia was stoked to find the 'bitch' hat in Venice Beach...
It's hard to believe that four years have passed since we crossed paths with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. It was June of 2011, on the heels of The Harrow And The Harvest, that they held court at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur, then later in the month, appeared at the Santa Barbara Bowl as support for Buffalo Springfield.
As a warmup for the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, they could have hardly found a more perfect venue than the Lobero Theatre, down the coast in Santa Barbara. The night served as an encapsulation of their catalogue before a hushed, but appreciative audience, Rawlings' spotlight turn during "Revelator" being a fine example. Saving the very best for last, the duo stepped to the edge of the stage and delivered a stunning take on "Long Black Veil", sans amplification.
