I decided to go to Wednesday night's show at Crowbar on a whim. I'd heard good things about Ra Ra Riot from a close friend of mine, and decided to give the band a shot. I had expected, it being a mid-week show, that the bar would be scarcely populated due to being scheduled in the middle of the week, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Tampa's scene out in full force in support of indie rock. [All photos by Drunkcameraguy.]
The Luyas, the Montreal-based band who opened for headliners Ra Ra Riot, struck me with their Cure like atmospherics on their first track. I was expecting more of this sort of lugubrious, depressing style of rock, until lead singer Jessie Stein's cutesy twee pop-ish vocals came in, and the curly-haired Canadian sang in a childlike, sweet voice. Unfortunately, she was drowned out by her much louder instrumentation. It worked to a certain extent, however, because of the juxtaposition between the dark music and her light voice. I thought fans of Tender Forever, the indie pop K Records recording artist, would greatly enjoy The Luyas, because of the similarity of their light pop styles.
Ra Ra Riot was a bit of a departure for me. I didn't quite know what to expect. I was greeted with three skinny indie rock young men, two string-playing young women, and a drummer. The septet began their set with "Massachusetts," a track from 2010's The Orchard. The track didn't make me feel much, but I appreciated the technical skill it took to play the artfully-composed track. Seeing diverse instruments in rock bands are always nice. I was much more into "Can You Tell," a number from 2008's The Rhumb Line. The track was rocking and artful, without losing itself at the extreme of either end. The band played the track well, with flourishes from cellist Alexandra Lawn.
The rest of the night's music didn't stir me, but it was a pleasant enough experience to sit through. The band was more than capable. After attempting to sit out for an encore, the band came back on stage and said "We had no where to hide!" and played a few more tracks, including "Dying Is Fine."
In all, it was a pretty good night for indie rock. Wednesdays! Who knew?
This article appears in Mar 10-16, 2011.