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Concert Report: Big Star, Imperial Teen, Moore Brothers (noisepop!)

After an enjoyable (we got to sit!) Ethiopian dinner, it was time for the show at The Fillmore. I'd never been there, so it was interesting to try it out. Lots of neat posters all over the walls from some of the great concerts they have had there - old and new. And they give away free apples. Weird. It has a second floor balcony, kind of like Great American Music Hall, except only on one side and much larger. There is also a back room that feels like a little coffee shop where they had a smaller band playing in between sets. The one tonight was pretty good - and included a cello player. Heh!

Anyways, the "real" show started with the Moore Brothers, which is 2 brothers singing, one playing acoustic guitar. Their first song sounded terrible - the harmonies seemed off. They settled in, though, and the harmonies got pretty nice, but the songs didn't really grab me lyrically or musically. They got a woman to sing with them at the end, which made things sound a little nicer, but the song was still kind of a dud. Oh well.

Next up was Imperial Teen. I totally got in to this! All four people (2 women, 2 men) sang, and sang well, and they swapped around the guitars and bass and drums a little bit. A very poppy, listenable sound, but with enough going on to keep it musically interesting. I probably would have tried a CD if I could have asked them which one to get - but you can't do that at big clubs like this.

Then it was time for Big Star. This was kind of a strange experience - they had a familiar sound, like you knew they fit somewhere into the history of classic rock and what came later, but it wasn't music I recognized since I had never heard it. It was kind of confusing. They did a fine job, though, and the crowd seemed to be very happy with everything and getting excited when they recognized certain songs, but I would have probably enjoyed it if I had been more familiar with it. They played a few too many ballad-like songs for my taste, but they certainly rocked out on the faster ones. So, it was enjoyable, but I couldn't really see why they have been the cult sensation that they seem to be.