Go Fever, SSA and Clean Prophets review

Of course I was at The Comet last night (due to being in one of the bands and all), and I had a great time.

Go Fever from Portland opened the show, and I think they hit me in just the right mood, because they were awesomely delicious. To be honest, their songs all blended together for me into a big mess of reverb, overdrive and catchy-but-fleeting choruses. But, it was just the vibe and the atmosphere that got me. I mean, the drummer has a 100% irony-free gong as part of his kit, for goodness sake!

But, what really sealed the deal -- and I realize that there is no way that this will translate to description here on the blog -- is when about two-thirds of the way through their set, and two-thirds of the way through a random song, the guitar player stopped strumming, turned and grabbed what can only be described as the smallest maraca in the word, shook it in the vicinity of the microphone for about 7 seconds, then chucked it over his right shoulder and went back to strumming. It was just a moment of perfect rock ridiculousness. I had a friend who once said that good rock and roll requires a certain amount of stupidity, and these guys had the exact right amount for me last night.

We (Shake Some Action!) went on second, and I just had a blast. The crowd was great, and we put what I feel was probably our best show to date. I won't gush, because that wouldn't be nearly humble enough. But, the show felt great. Thanks for everyone who came out, and thanks to KEXP, The Stranger and others for giving our band such great attention (even if Megan Selling insists on giving us a hard time about having an exclamation point in our band name).

The Clean Prophets out of LA came on next, and I was looking forward to their set. I have enjoyed the online stuff, and it translated quite well to a live setting. Their drummer is a flailing mess of arms and drum sticks, but it gave them great energy. He did quite a bit of this 16th-note, Larry Mullen Jr kind of stuff (while the band itself sounds nothing like U2) that I was digging. Perhaps most noteworthy, people DANCED!! That's two consecutive trips to the Comet in which this has happened. This whole "enjoying the show" thing is just getting out of hand. ;)

I only made it through about five tunes by the Clean Prophets before the drive home beckoned (it was a school night after all, and my old ass already has to be conjured out of bed when my 6:30am alarm goes off!). But, those five tunes were quite enjoyable.

Apologies to Black Night Crash for not being able to stick around. I would've liked to have seen the show.