Sonic Muse Fest with Hold Steady, Ted Leo

Three weeks ago, my fiancee and I went to the beautiful Madison Theatre in Covington, KY, for the all-day Sonic Muse Festival. Fourteen bands played between the two stages (the Theatre's main stage, and a smaller stage set up in a large-ish upstairs room). Ted Leo was the headliner, with the Hold Steady playing right before them.

I'll start with The Hold Steady. Here's what you have to know about the Hold Steady: they kick the shit out of any band that any of you listen to. When you see them in concert, you're going to party. Don't want to party? Fuck you. You're partying anyway. This is a band that makes you dance, makes you sing, makes you smile the biggest smiles you'll ever smile, and makes you cry. Ask Caitlin. I fucking wept during "Killer Parties." This is a band that makes you shake up the $4 beer you just bought and spray it everywhere out of sheer excitement (and the beer was spraying everywhere in the first couple of rows).

Lead singer Craig Finn was in his element, walking around the stage simultanously like he owned it (which he did) and like a middle aged semi-awkward guy (which he is). Between lines sung into the microphone, he'd shout others out to the audience. Tad Kubler is one of the best guitarists out there. Moustachioed Franz Nicolay plays gorgeous, catchy riffs on his keyboard. And bassist Gaven Polivka rolls out the low end with a smug, drunken smile. From the rush of their opening duo of "Stuck Between Stations" and "The Swish" to the euphoric peak of "Party Pit" to the snarling bitterness of "Your Little Hoodrat Friend," it was clear that this was a band at its peak. Even this band's slow stuff rocks. At the beginning of "Killer Parties," Craig told us that "there's so much joy in what we do up here." Every single person in that audience could have told him, "there's so much joy in what we're doing down here."



Setlist:
1. Stuck Between Stations
2. The Swish
3. Chips Ahoy!
4. Cattle and the Creeping Things
5. Massive Nights
6. Party Pit
7. Hot Soft Light
8. Banging Camp
9. Stevie Nix
10. You Can Make Him Like You
11. Your Little Hoodrat Friend
12. Southtown Girls
13. Same Kooks
14. Killer Parties


Ted Leo and the Pharmacists then came out and played what, at any other show, would have been the highlight of the evening. They rocketed out of the gate with "Sons of Cain," "Dial Up," and "Me and Mia," ending each song with a quick, grinning "Thanks." For his set, the crowd had thinned out--people had just been there for too damn long, and although Caitlin and I stayed through the entire set, we were just too wiped out from the Hold Steady to enjoy it as fully as we could. I hope to see him again sometime when I haven't already been at the show for nine hours.

Setlist:
1. Sons of Cain
2. Dial Up
3. Me and Mia
4. Army Bound
5. The Angels' Share
6. Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone?
7. Annunciation Day/Born On Christmas Day
8. Bomb. Repeat. Bomb
9. Counting Down The Hours
10. Little Dawn
11. Old Souls Know
12. Colleen
13. Bottle of Buckie
14. The Unwanted Things
15. Who Do You Love
16. Timorous Me
17. Walking To Do
18. C.I.A.


The two other headliners (who played before the Hold Steady) were Birds of Avalon and Matt & Kim. Charlotte, North Carolina's Birds of Avalon had a monstrous, Pink Floyd meets Led Zeppelin sound. They brought two projectors along with them, letting a trippy set of videos illuminate them instead of the theater's lights. Unfortunately, the band's mammoth sound swallowed lead singer Paul Siler's vocals. Despite this, they were one of the highlights of the evening, and someone to look out for in the future (Ted Leo later called them the "best band in America").

Then there was Brooklyn, NY's Matt and Kim. Welcome to Schtick City. They're a keyboard and drums duo, but, unlike the Dresden Dolls and the Benevento/Russo Duo, they simply can't pull it off. The section in front of the stage was filled with teenage wannabe hipsters in Bright Eyes t-shirts. If you haven't heard Matt & Kim's annoying geek-pop, know this: you can't mosh to this shit. But these kids started a mosh pit nonetheless, making me even happier that Cait and I had staked out a spot on the second tier, about twenty feet back from the stage. They played their obligatory "Yea Yeah" (now a huge hit on YouTube), made really awkward stage banter (the two are dating, and talk of "dipping the pen in the company ink well" was just painful), and, thankfully, left the stage after half an hour.

A couple of the earlier mainstage bands put on excellent mainstage performances as well, although that can't be said for Northern Kentucky's own Knife the Symphony, who opened the show at 4:00 PM. While the music itself was tolerable, the lead singer's voice was cringe-inducing. Fortunately, they were followed by the Angels of Meth. The bassist and the drummer looked like they belong in Slipknot, while the guitarists looked like they were out of the Black Crowes. Fortunately, the Black Crowes side won out, and the Angels of Meth gave us an excellent forty minute set.

Pearlene, another Cincinnati band, was next. In addition to the typical keys-guitar-bass-drums, they added two backup singers who, along with the swampy electric piano, gave the band a late-60's soul sound that was a big crowd-pleaser. Unfortunately, Pearlene was ushered off the stage after only a half hour to make way for the four "National Headliners."

So, overall, the Sonic Muse Fest was a huge success, with only a couple of duds, and for a $20 ticket, I can't complain in the least.



Angels of Meth


Birds of Avalon


The Hold Steady


The Hold Steady


Ted Leo