SHOW REVIEW: Death of Paris, Concrete Animals, and Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun

Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun, Death of Paris, and Concrete Animals

On May 28^th, those in attendance witnessed an epic aligning of stars; figuratively and literally.  Death of Paris, Concrete Animals, and Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun all performed at the Radio Room.  I’ve had the pleasure of seeing all of these bands before, but never together.  The beautiful thing about seeing bands that you really enjoy at the Radio Room is that you can actually SEE the bands.  You can walk up to them while they’re playing and make a connection, fist-bump them, or even offer them a shot.  You can SEE how purposeful each note is, and what you see is what you get.

Jayna Doyle (Death of Paris) started the night off with an acapella verse.  That girl can sing crazy good!  She was soon joined by the rest of her band, complete with giant strobe lights, for a solid set.  Each song was carefully and lovingly performed.  For those of you who haven’t seen or heard Death of Paris yet, try to imagine Paramore and Postal Service colliding, but with a way better singer.  The song that struck me most was “Villains.”  It’s a gritty dance tune that is guaranteed to get you moving.  It was the song DOP finished their set with, and in my opinion, my favorite song.

Up next was Concrete Animals.  Concrete Animals features former members of The Dirty White, but is definitely a departure from that sound.  They are a no-frills power trio, so if you like 90’s fueled garage rock, you should really check these guys out.  They played a quick, blitzkrieg-style set.  They were up and gone before you knew it, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t do work on stage.  Josh McDowell plays every song with conviction, and his band more than adequately backs him up.  Expect to hear more of this relentless tour de force.

Headlining the show was Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun.  It seems that every time they come through the Upstate, I get to know each of the members more, which makes me like their music even more.  I had been listening to their newest album, “W I L D F I R E” and I wasn’t convinced about whether or not I liked it.  To me, it almost sounded over produced, but after seeing them at the Radio Room, I can definitively say that they blew my socks off… again!  Everything that I heard on the album was a reality.  They didn’t use backing tracks, and everything was played to perfection.  The highlight of their set was when their drummer, Jeremy Cole, came to the front of the stage to pound a single floor tom during the song, “Irene the Avalanche.”  He even went as far as to bring the drum into the middle of the crowd – impressive.

Just to reiterate what Wes said yesterday, my life has been drastically improved by going to local shows.  It’s an opportunity to meet some really cool people doing really cool things, and this show was no exception.  Three amazing bands came to our little Radio Room and put on a very inspiring show… ALL FOR FREE!  If you missed it, you really missed out.

Links:

http://todaythemoon.com/

http://concreteanimals.bandcamp.com/

http://www.reverbnation.com/deathofparis

***Photo Disclaimer:  I apologize in advance for using possibly copywritten images.  The lighting at the Radio Room is terrible for taking pictures, so I had to “steal” the images via web searches and whatnot.  If you got a problem, yo, I’ll solve it; meaning to say that I’ll make sure you get photo credit… if you really need it that much.  Thanks, C.***