Photos: The Box Social

I headed down to the Mars Bar last night to take in the Young Sportsmen, The Box Social and Speaker Speaker. It was, in fact, my second night in a row at Mars Bar, as I played there the night before with The Scheme.

So, before I get to last night, let me talk about Friday night. Model Photographer was added to the bill late, after The Colors Bars had to drop out. Well, it wasn't a let down, because they did a great set of catchy tunes. Someone said they were reminded of Sebadoh. I could see the comparison. But, they were tighter, more in tune and more controlled than Sebadoh. What popped into my head was a more-likable Lemonheads. In any case, they were good.

Now, onto last night. If there's one thing that the whole world should know about the Mars Bar is it's a small-ish space with bad acoustics. They have a lot of good shows there and of that I'm appreciative. But, facts is facts, and the sound is rarely great there. So, the concept of going to see the Young Sportsmen, who are probably the loudest powerpop band in town, there was initially off-putting. But, to my surprise, the Sportsmen sounded balanced and in no way harsh. Wesley told me they dialed their amps back a bit. But, it sounded great. In fact, I could hear them 20,000 times better than that last show at the Comet (which perhaps isn't a rining endorsement of the sound system at the Comet... but still!).

But, The Box Social then proceeds to load some ludicrously large gear onto the stage. I don't blame them, as they're on tour and possibly playing many venues that merit a full SVT bass rig and a Vox-powered Marshall cabinet guitar and such. But, in this setting it turns out that it was they, not the Young Sportsmen, who were too loud for the room.

That's not to say they were bad... just loud. Remember that old KISS saying, "if it's too loud, you're too old"? Well, I'm too old, apparently.

I did enjoy their set quite a bit. I'm not overly familiar with their music, other than what's on their myspace page. But, they did that material justice. They also did a cover of a Talking Heads tune, which always gets someone points from my book.

Here are some photos I snapped of them. Another thing that the Mars Bar shares with The Comet is that there is very little lighting to work with for photos, and frankly my camera just sucks with bad lighting. So, bear with me. If anyone out there wants to buy me a nice digital SLR, it's never too early to start thinking about Christmas gifts.


The Box Social


The Box Social


The Box Social