I have a habit of attending shows where I know little to
nothing about the bands playing. Usually I have a good grip on one band and the
rest of the bill is completely unknown to me. Sometimes the band that I know
best is the opener, and the headliner I’ve never heard of and did not care to
look up prior to arriving at the venue. (Classic example: when I saw Low Roar
open for Asgeir.) Last week, though, I went to see the up and coming ON AN ON,
and was pleasantly surprised by their opener, Eliot Sumner.
This habit where I remain purposefully ignorant of the acts
sometimes backfires, and makes me feel foolish among the other, more prepared
concertgoers. This was the case when Sumner walked onto stage and most people
near the stage around me went nuts. Was I missing out on something? Yes, yes I
was. When I had my ticket scanned, a girl in front of me in line remarked how
Eliot should have been the headliner, and it was easy to see why. Sumner is a
powerhouse of a woman, who played one of the loudest sets of the year. It wasn’t
distorted at all, just super loud. And hearing something like that really takes
your breath away, quite
literally
Sumner once used the moniker I Blame Coco, (her nickname was
[is?] Coco,) but abandoned it as her music matured. Coco’s tunes sound more
closely related to her father’s band, The Police, with a pop-bent to it. Her newer
stuff has a rawness to it, with explosive guitars and darker themes. She
reminded me a lot of Torres, maybe partly because I saw Torres sing on the same
stage a few months ago, but mostly because of how brutal the music felt in such
an intimate setting.
ON AN ON are a Minneapolis based band who were ecstatic to
play for us. The fun was palpable as they performed tracks from their most
recent album, And the Wave Has Two Sides. I featured them as the very first
Band of the Week for Happy Ours, and was thrilled myself to be able to see them
perform the record I had talked about and grown to love. As excited as some people were to see Sumner, there were
members of the audience, notably a dude and his girlfriend standing directly in
front of me, who lost their minds to ON AN ON. This guy was rocking so
violently to the rhythm I feared he would fall onto the stage and topple a few
of ON AN ON’s numerous synths. That could have ended poorly, especially since
the band kept taking shots to celebrate the show- as they were playing it. It
was a raucous and joyous event, and I was happy to take home one of their
shirts to commemorate the occasion. Keep rocking ON AN ON. Perpetually.
Sawdust & Gin 