Opening bands that quickly became my favorites

Do you believe in fate? A life full of odd and random coincidences sometimes has me questioning if fate is a real thing. Perhaps Apollo, the Olympian Deity of music (among other things), or even Saint Cecilia, the Patron Saint of Music, are still invested in what people are listening to today. Some of my favorite bands and artists are people I never really intended to introduce myself to, but it appears as if the universe had other plans. Below are a few bands/artists that I never really heard about until I saw them live, and afterwards, they quickly became some of my favorite bands/artists to listen to.

Civil Twilight

Source: http://www.civiltwilightband.com/

Back in 2011, Jimmy Eat World came to Headliner's Music Hall and brought with them this relatively unknown band from South Africa called Civil Twilight. Until this night, opening bands were just filler noise to me. Something in the background while I work up a buzz at the bar or found my ideal spot among the crowd for the headlining act. But then along came Civil Twilight and they completely changed my mind. For a trio, I was amazed at the sound they produced. The amount of energy they put into every single song they performed was amazing. And they seemed to feed off the energy the crowd was giving them. For 45 minutes, Headliner's turned into a self-sustaining biosphere of rock and roll.



They performed their "hit" song "Letters from the Sky" which was phenomenal live. Here's a link to the music video:
http://youtu.be/9Wa7dFR09vU

But the song that impressed me the most was their cover of Massive Attack's "Teardrop." The guitarist, giving it his all and dripping in sweat, got down on his knees near the end of the song and began to shred his guitar making the crowd go WILD. It was incredible. Here's a live performance of that song (from a different venue) that doesn't even begin to capture the energy they emitted, but is still fun to watch:
http://youtu.be/RcO6xQq7oNs

Cherub

Source: https://www.facebook.com/Cherublamusica

It was Forecastle 2012 and I had only recently popped my music festival cherry with Lollapalooza the previous year, so I was all kinds of excited to attend a music festival in my own city. I took off work early that Friday, grabbed a few friends, and down to the waterfront we went.

The festival gates had pretty much just opened, so not a lot of bands were playing. We did a quick walkaround to see what all was where, and decided to stop at one of the small WFPK tents to watch this duo called Cherub. Their style was unique. They blended elements of electronic dance, funk, disco, and rock and created something that can only be described as "sexy." The type of music you can't help but dance to. There weren't many people watching them that early in the day, but I have a feeling everyone there is now a huge Cherub fan.

Some of my favorite songs of theirs:
"Doses and Mimosas"
"Around the World" (Daft Punk cover)
"XOXO"
and once they got a bit bigger, they ended up collaborating with Big Giantic on a fantastic song:
"The Night is Young"

Moon Taxi

Source: https://www.facebook.com/ridethemoontaxi

That same weekend in July, a friend of mine kept boasting about this rock band from Nashville called Moon Taxi. She knew the keyboardist through some other group of friends and kept singing their praises. So along comes Sunday and I decide to take a break from the amazing electronic sounds Minnesota was playing under the bridge to check out Moon Taxi.

How do I even begin to explain their set? It was one of the most fun concerts I've ever seen. Their sound was refreshing, they were masters of their instruments, and the energy they put into playing was astounding. I didn't know walking into Forecastle that weekend that I'd leave with a new favorite band. It's been 3 years and I still can't get enough Moon Taxi.

I could create a huge list of songs, but to keep it simple, check out these:
"Cabaret" live at Bonnaroo 2012  (dat keyboard solo...)
"Gibson" from their jam band days.
"Hypnus" A pretty cool acoustic version of their song. (album version here)
"Beaches" Starting to get a little more progressive. This song is amazing.
"Change" Just a fun song to see live.

Howell Dawdy

Source: https://www.facebook.com/HowellDawdy

When I saw Cherub was coming back to Louisville, I was ecstatic! They were playing at this small venue called The New Vintage and it was the perfect setting for a band like them. It was on a week night, but I figured it'd probably be over by midnight. So I knew I could go, catch some of their songs, and then make it home and hopefully get about 5 hours of sleep before I had to be up for work. Unfortunately, Cherub didn't even go on until almost midnight, so I never ended up seeing them perform. I did see the two openers though...

The first opening band was this guy named Howell Dawdy. He had a simple set up. A keyboard and a laptop basically. And he begun his set by speaking to the crowd and informing them that, although they may be disturbed in what was to follow, everything was going to be okay.

What followed was 30 minutes of some oddly funny, unique, and extremely creative electronic songs that he sang over. It was so...weird. And yet NO ONE could avert their attention. He sang about being a ghost, his need for a fire extinguisher, and his discontent with the insurance adjuster's disbelief of Pi's story in The Life of Pi among other topics.Things that just seemed to be on his mind, and so he put them down on paper with some music behind it.

After his set was over, my friends and I got some fresh air and reflected at how much he reminded us of James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem fame. His music isn't for everyone, but if you like offbeat oddities, check out some of his stuff.
"Boo, I'm a Ghost"
"Bananas Don't Float"
"Fire Extinguisher" (my personal favorite)