A Wave of Genius

As in Rogue Wave...

Ha, I'm punny, isn't I? Ok, enough of the crap. To kick off a nice, long and relaxing Thanksgiving weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing more great bands at the Triple Rock on November 23, 2005. It was frigid cold, and Katie and I ran the couple blocks from our parking spot and waited in line. Of course, we had to be standing right between a couple of smokers, which made the waiting not-so-fun. It's ok, though; at least we breathe easy while inside and the idiots have to go outside to light up. Now only if they would do a statewide ban....I don't know what's wrong with this state sometimes. Anyway, that'll be saved for another time...

Kubla Kahn started off the night with their form of poppy, jam-band like rock that would be well suited for a summer block party. They did get the crowd growing, warming our chilled faces and bodies (some people didn't even have coats on...mostly girls who had walked over from the Augusta campus, and older adults that seemed to have visited the bar for a while before they stood in line). I'm used to concertgoers being 16-30yrs old; this show, however, displayed lots of older adults. Many of them were full of liquid courage, evidenced by their shouting at the band and dancing drunkenly, stumbling into fellow concertgoers who just wanted to dance without getting spilled on! Luckily, this didn't happen to us, and we enjoyed Kubla Kahn's humurous stage antics, holding up big signs that instructed us to applaud and cheer! I had never heard of them before, but I wouldn't be surprised if they play a lot of bar gigs.

After Kubla Kahn, I made my way through a very-packed Triple Rock to the Rogue Wave merch table. I purchased their brilliant new album, Descended Like Vultures. The Hopefuls went on, and I was very impressed by their set, playing the familar hits that The Current adores. Some of the songs I had never heard before were very good, delving into more rock than pop territory. The Hopefuls aren't scared of the Olympics Committee, it would seem, as they still don their trademark tracksuits. I admire them for that, and the fact that they simply are awesome to watch live. Their energy inspired a guy dressed in a suit to get onstage and dance and march and do all sorts of crazy things while the band played. They didn't seem too upset about it, or amused either. Who knows; either way, it was a great performance, pumping me up for Rogue Wave.

After a lengthy delay in set-up, Rogue Wave took the stage and played an hour of beautiful, dreamy indie-rock. You feel like you're along the west coast, watching the ocean as you zip around the coastline with mountains sprinkled faintly in the distance. The sun is shining, you're comfortable, you've got plenty of food and water, your friends are having a great convo one minute and then they get silent when they see the oceans and mountains. They then proceed to put in some music that fits the mood...like Rogue Wave.....and they just chill, soaking in the moments like these that never last as long as you want them to.

Like Tristeza, Rogue Wave used christmas lights (white ones, though, not red) to set the mood of their performance. They were laid-back for the most part, and rocked out when it struck them to do so. Zach Rogue and the band are a lot of fun to watch, loving our response to the new tunes as well as the old faves (old being 2004!). The sound was excellent, thought the vocals were muffled by the wall of noise eminating from the two guitars, bass and drums. I didn't mind this one bit though, as my love of post-rock comes from such noise. We left around 1:45, tired but content with a wonderful evening of music.