If there’s anything Minus the Bear really excels at, it’s knowing exactly what their audience wants to hear. The packed house at the Ritz Ybor was treated to an evening of crowd-pleasing favorites and some tracks from the Seattle rockers’ new album, Omni. [All photos by Mike Wilson.]

The evening opened with some California-style indie rock from Newport Beach’s Young the Giant. They are fairly young, indeed, and their experimental compositions and infectious pop hooks were well-received by the crowd. Their set was followed by another California band, Everest. [Frontman Sameer Gadhia pictured right.] Based out of Los Angeles, they've toured with Neil Young, Wilco, My Morning Jacket, and Death Cab for Cutie. To me, they seemed an odd choice as an opener; their Americana, 1970s-influenced sound recalls the timeless influences of The Eagles, Crosby, Stills, & Nash or The Byrds, more than anything relating to the sound of Minus the Bear. They certainly received a much more favorable reaction than The Antlers, whose emotional heart-on-sleeve style was booed by an incredibly disrespectful audience when I saw them open for Minus the Bear at their November show in Orlando.

Everest is actually quite good, definitely pop-based and gave a performance well-coordinated with a full light show. At one point, lead vocalist Russell Pollard put down his guitar and got behind a second drumset onstage. Where two drummers work well for a band like White Rabbits, which already has a dramatic percussive sound, for Everest the extra rhythms were just mildly effective, but allowed drummer Davey Latter to get in some nice work on the tom drums. Their new LP, On Approach, was just released on April 20, and is already receiving praise similar to their debut, Ghost Notes.

This article appears in May 13-19, 2010.