Lydia, PlayRadioPlay!
Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios
September 17, 2009
Better than: Staying home to watch the season premiere of The Office.
Despite recently sharing his troubles with his PlayRadioPlay! persona, frontman Daniel Hunter seemed to quite comfortable dancing across the small stage at Rubber Gloves last night under his longtime moniker, playing crowd favorites and then--finally--playing something a little more his age: A new song with a new sound.
There were no poppy, electronic beats--just a drum set and guitar.
Hunter may still have to play with X's on his hands, but his sound
proved to be much more mature last night.
The headliners of the night, Lydia, then came up, and six musicians filled a tiny stage--a surprise, perhaps, as, last time around, only two showed up to play an acoustic- and piano-based set. Even with the added members, though, the band's hour-long performance this evening was soft and choir-like, with the audience singing along throughout.
The majority of the show consisted of songs off of the group's latest album, Illuminate. Best song of the night? "This Is Twice Now",
hands down. After that, "a couple final songs" turned into, well, four more songs, and the band left the audience without a reason to scream for an encore.
Critics Notebook
Personal Bias: I was looking forward to this show, which turned out, in my opinion, to be a great one, in a great venue and with a great crowd.
By The Way: Lydia's lead vocalist, Leighton Antelman is really, really good-looking--and he can sing!
Random Note: Why do the tallest people always stand in front of me?
It's a curse! Next time, I'm sitting on random shoulders, watch out.
