When I heard that Kevin Devine and the Manchester Orchestra were going to tour together in the spring, I plunked down money in early February to assure my attendance for the show.
As the date approached, my excitement had sorta tempered a little bit and that had a lot to do with a disappointing show I caught earlier this year when I saw Against Me! perform in San Antonio.
I never penned a proper write up for the Against Me show because it genuinely bummed me the fuck out.... the more and more I think about it, I think I'm going to revisit that night again and work out the issues I had with the show.
Drove out to Austin and before visiting the new (well, new to me) Emo's location, I decided to spend some time at End of An Ear. I didn't get a chance to visit on record store day and I always find great stuff in the racks.
I got a text from a friend of mine asking where I was in the crowd... I informed her I was still across town getting records. She then broke the news to me that Kevin Devine performed first. They altered the line up order and Balance and Composure played 2nd.
I seriously considered skipping out on the Manchester Orchestra show all together. I opted to go however because I wanted to hear a number of the songs live.
I'm insanely happy that I did, because it was one of the best performances I've seen in a while. It actually reminded me a lot of seeing Built to Spill circa 2000. The band has 4 albums worth of material that they play through and the crowd was incredibly supportive of them. The band was in top notch form and they had an incredible light show to accompany the performance. If you get a chance to see them on this tour or in the Fall, make it a point to do so.