There’s a lot about the music industry today that is, discouraging, to say the last. But every once and a while a young band like The Districts comes around and restores your faith. They remind you that there is still a glimmer of hope out there. It’s encouraging to see that a young band can rise through the ranks the right way, playing authentic rock and roll that speaks to your soul. People keep saying rock and roll is dead, but it’s clear that they’re just looking in all the wrong places.
Upstate NY trio What Moon Things opened the show. The way the trio are able to capture a moody atmosphere reminds of moments of early Cymbals Eat Guitars. The droning rockers have honed in on their sound, making something powerfully emotive that just has a way of sticking with you. Their album is available to stream over at bandcamp.
Appropriately titled New Jersey group Pine Barons were up next. The group have been playing gigs with The Districts for a few years now, and you can see why. They too have a youthful kick to their sound, which is all over the map sonically, capturing many different styles of rock, sometimes at once. Some tracks have a folk side to them, others with heavy percussion or harmonies. They sound much more full and complete live than they do on their recorded album (find it on bandcamp), especially on arguably their best track “Chamber Choir,” which is a completely different beast live. They’ll be touring with The Districts some more, which only makes me think that these guys will continue to improve. Keep an eye out.
The Districts, the same kids who I saw at Rockwood Music Hall in 2013, sold out Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday night. They’re rightfully riding high off their fantastic new album A Flourish and a Spoil on Fat Possum, which the show served as the official release party for.
The amazing thing about The Districts in the live arena is their ability to capture you within seconds of their playing. They way they capture powerful emotion is something that you just can’t teach. But it seems to come easy to frontman Rob Grote. Even just by the way he hunches over at weird angles to sing into his mic while he brashes through tracks like “Peaches” or “Chlorine” are enough to get you to believe in what this kid is belting out. He’s a natural.
The band were caught in the moments of the night, taken back and humbled by the affection that the sold out crowd showed them. The one-two punch of the band’s most popular tracks “Lyla” + “Funeral Beds” was a fitting combo, with Grote admitting that the online success that a live video of the latter had is partly responsible for their success. It could be that, or it could be that The Districts music has a rare feeling of authenticity that just speaks to us in ways that we have been searching for, whether we realized it or not.
Hearing those opening lines of “Good morning Lyla” is just as memorable as it was when I heard it for the first time at Rockwood. But it was a solo performance that Grote performed of “6 AM” during the encore that gave me goosebumps, and had the rest of the crowd picking up their jaws from the flaw. If there was any indication that Grote has the chops to go solo, it was this performance that proved it.
The Districts are just getting started, but they already feel quite established to me. They may not be doing something new with rock and roll, but they’re doing their part to keep it alive in a passionate, authentic manner. Considering we need it more than ever in 2015, it’s an exciting thing for music. The future isn’t looking so bad after all.
Setlist:
1. Chlorine
2. Hounds
3. Rocking Chair
4. Long Distance
5. Heavy Bags
6. Peaches
7. Suburban Smell
8. Bold
9. Lyla
10. Funeral Beds
11. 4th and Roebling
Encore:
12. 6 AM
13. Young Blood
What Moon Things:
Pine Barons:
The Districts:
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