I Know Who Made My Bed: Colour Revolt @ the Mercury Lounge

I went to the Mercury Lounge last night to check out Snowden, which is a band I'd already seen live once before about a year ago (also at the Merc, if memory serves). I really like them--their Anti-Anti album consistently goes through periods of heavy rotation in my library--and have been dying for them to come back 'round to the City so I could see them again. But not dying enough, apparently, to wait through a headcount for the Fire Warden (although, honestly, I think the Merc was just trying to pack more people inside). Eyeroll. I guess that's what I get for hitting up Happy Hour beforehand...and on a school night.

However, despite my lameness in skipping out on the band I actually went to see, I did manage to catch the entire Colour Revolt opening set. And it was awesome.

I will admit that I have a sentimental soft spot for Oxford, Mississippi, so when I found out a couple hours before they went on that they are based out of Oxford I was probably irrationally predisposed to like them. But they happily exceeded my crazy expectations with their driving beat and their guitar-heavy sound. [Incidentally, it was probably a good thing that I could only see the lead singer from my particular vantage point because I generally have little patience for bands with too many guitarists (3 guitars and 1 bass in this particular case)...seeing the set up might have changed my favorable predisposition to a more dismissive one. I know, I know...there is no rhyme or reason.]

Since I only really saw the lead singer (and guitar player), Jesse Coppenbarger, I can only comment on his particular performance by mentioning that I was impressed with the sound he pushed out of his seemingly-slight frame. He has a great sense of phrasing and styling.

On a related note: I was excited enough about the show last night that I downloaded their new full-length album this morning (Plunder, Beg, and Curse) and I will say that, although some are quite good, some songs are a disappointment...especially when I had the live versions of these songs fresh in my head. But this is a young band and judging from the performance last night I have to say I'm really excited to see where they go from here.