Alisa Xayalith of T/N/A/F at Lincoln Theatre
Until last night, I'd never seen music at the Lincoln Theatre, and now I'm less than a week from going back there again! (
For Ingrid Michaelson.) Before we get to the awesome headliner, or even the two opening acts, you've gotta know how the Lincoln Theatre works: if a show is "general admission," go there early and grab seats in the front when the doors open. I got there 5 minutes after the doors were open and I got seats in the middle of the 5th row, leading to all the glamorous shots you're going to see in this post.
A second thing to note: the acoustics at Lincoln Theatre are, to put it kindly, pretty underwhelming. The acoustics are built for voice (it's a great place to see stand-up), but that often results in sound washing out. That's definitely another reason to be there early - get close enough that you hear the artists and not the reverb.
Kamtin Mohager, a/k/a The Chain Gang of 1974
The Chain Gang of 1974 has a strong synthpop sound, but they didn't have any favors done for them with the acoustics. The balance was a little off, hurting their vocals: what would have been powerful vocals in "
Sleepwalking" were just washed out, and I'm pretty sure the people running the sound board used this opener to rebalance sounds for the next two bands. Still, they put out a strong set, especially with "I Still Wonder." I'll keep a lookout for them, because I really do want to hear what they can do in a place that's not an acoustic nightmare!
You can find their newest single "I Still Wonder"
here.
XYLØ's super sibling duo of Paige (left) and Chase
While it's unsurprising knowing their musical content, it still was jarring how political Paige and Chase were. In just eight songs - culminating in "
America" and "
Fool's Paradise," XYLØ dedicated their concert to "their LGBT friends, people of color, and all those who are marginalized... if they're going to build a wall, we're going to shatter the glass ceiling." In addition to that message, they were a wave of dreampop that helped get the audience into the groove, and nobody sat down the entire set. The next time you see them, don't be surprised if they're headlining at Echostage or opening for someone at the Verizon Center.
Check out their new single (they're featured on a Chainsmokers track) here:
YouTube |
iTunes |
Apple Music |
Spotify - This is one of the coolest lyric videos I've ever seen, and yeah, don't try it at home.
T/N/A/F
TNAF never disappoints, and their 15 song set was perfect. I'm not sure what else I can say about them except that while everyone knows how amazing Alisa is with her lead vocals, it's easy to forget or discount Thom's vocals - and you shouldn't. If he wanted to, he could front his own band - check out his vocals on "
Girls Like You" if you don't believe me - and we're all lucky for him being happy to be mostly sidelined by Alisa. They opened the show with a powerful rendition of "
The Water Beneath You" and then slowly built the energy before getting everyone jumping with "
Punching in a Dream." After taking us back and forth between their first two albums with pitstops at "the new stuff," they put together an absolutely killer crescendo through their last four songs: "
Laid Low" (which was co-written with The Chain Gang of 1974), "
Last Forever," "Girls Like You," and of course, they closed the set with "
Young Blood." By the time they came back out to do "
No Way" as their encore, the tickets had long since been paid off.
Til next time... keep on listening, keep on singing, and keep live music alive.
T/N/A/F tour (*w/ XYLØ and The Chain Gang of 1974):
11/17 -- Baltimore, MD -- Rams Head Live*
11/18 -- Richmond, VA -- The National*
11/19 -- Norfolk, VA -- The Norva*
11/20 -- Raleigh, NC -- The Ritz*
11/22 -- Atlanta, GA -- Buckhead Theatre*
11/23 -- Nashville, TN -- Cannery Ballroom*
11/25 -- Dallas, TX -- House of Blues*
11/26 -- Houston, TX -- White Oak Music Hall*
11/28 -- Tempe, AZ -- The Marquee*
11/30 -- Oakland, CA -- The Fox Theater
12/3 -- Tampa, FL -- MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Ampitheatre
12/4 -- Ft. Lauderdale, FL -- Rev Room
1/7 -- Sydney, AUS -- Metro Theatre
1/8 -- Melbourne, AUS -- 170 Russell
1/26 -- Oslo, Norway -- Vulkan Arena
1/27 -- Stockholm, Sweden -- Nalen
1/28 -- Copenhagen, Denmark -- Studio 2
1/30 -- Hamburg, Germany -- Uebel & Gefaehrlich
1/31 -- Berlin, Germany -- Columbia Theater
2/1 -- Prague, Czech Republic -- Lucerna Music Bar
2/3 -- Vienne, Austria -- Gasometer
2/4 -- Innsbruck, Austria -- Air + Style Festival Innsbruck-Tirol 2017
2/5 -- Lusanne, Switzerland -- Les Docks
2/7 -- Cologne, Germany -- Kantien
2/8 -- Paris, France -- Le Trianon
2/10 -- Utrecht, Netherlands -- TivoliVrendenburg
2/12 -- Edinburgh, Scotland -- Liquid Room
2/13 -- Manchester, England -- Academy 2
2/14 -- London, England -- The Forum
