Concluding on A Perfectly Pitched High Note

I became a local music fan over 4 years ago, back in 2001 when there were dank, dark and squalid venues like the Foxfire, Bon Appetit, and the Library Bar and Grill. All of these venues featured wonderful shows for all ages and are now sadly, gone. One of the first local bands I saw was Down and Above (DNA), whom after 4 years and countless shows later, I still love. They played with Casanatra and Seconds Before at the Triple Rock on September 18th. Most of the time, these bands are heard on the local shows of mainstream rock radio, and not usually college or indie radio. However, Seconds Before and Down and Above have wonderfully original sounds that could be played on more than just corporate radio stations.

Seconds Before's set (doesn't look right (the grammar, that is), does it?) was a big bowl of fun, with their drummer Stan playing his last show just like....it was his last show...
Their new stuff is faster and more upbeat, less poppy and more...rocky? On the last song, members of the other bands came on stage, holding whatever percussive instruments they could find. All hovered around Stan, and the stage exploded with as much sound as possible. Casanatra was next, and they were very good musicians, but the singer's voice did not sound clear at all.

Then DNA came on. Their love of high notes, King's X, killer breakdowns, 3-part harmonies and passionately positive stage performance really got the crowd going. They played a great mix of songs from their last 2 albums, and even played a couple new ones. Their cover of Willie Nelson's 'Highway Man' was amazing, mixing bluesy and bluegrass-like guitar with a bit of jazzy drumming, and then proceeding for a flat-out rock breakdown. Yeah, playing covers can be cheesy;when you can pull them off as spine-tinglingly extravagent as DNA does, there's no reason to second-guess your liking them. All of their voices blended so well together, and they seemed more refreshed than the last time I saw them play, when they opened for Dredg. They're also one of the first bands I've seen that smile a ton while they're playing, and not take themselves so seriously. So, this show was the perfect way to end an amazing week of seeing bands from the Northwest, Midwest, East Coast, and Japan. All in the same venue no less. How I love the Twin Cities.