Nothing But Happy Folks: Bishop Allen and Castledoor @ the Echo, July 31, 2007

Bishop Allen put out an album last week that included mostly reworkings of songs from the TWELVE EPs they put out last year. It's a really good album. It turns out they're also really great live too.

Last night Bishop Allen played to an almost packed Echo, thankfully no one ever stands to the right of the stage so it's usually about 30º cooler there (that's a tip for you readers, all three of you). Page Francis was supposed to play, but did not for reasons I never learned, which bumped Castledoor up to the number two position instead of first- good, considering I didn't want to show up too early so I still got to see them play. Yay.

Castledoor have been getting a lot of hype so I was keen to check them out. They run the vein of the poppy folk indie rock crowd (yes, it's a bit of an amalgam, but whatever) and they get you to want to dance and clap along with them. The lead singer, Nate Cole, seemed genuinely pleased to be performing and was all grins and shout outs to people he worked with that came to see his band play. They also get kudos for have a keyboard AND a xylophone. I know that they played "Magnetic Forces" cause they shouted out that that was what they were playing next. I think that they were a perfect band to open for Bishop Allen, that happy streak ran through both bands. So, yeah, all the hype is true, go check these local kids out.

Taking the stage, Bishop Allen look like a bunch of kids coming out of Harvard or something. Maybe it's to due with their traveling from the east coast, or not, I'm just guessing. The same happiness evidently present prior to their set was still there, beaming in the smiles of frontmen Justin Rice and Christian Rudder. Tonight they also had a fifth member in the band, but I do not know where he hails from (forgot the digital camera last night and took "real" photos instead. Once they're developed and scanned look for them here [approximately 6 to 8 weeks] so until then enjoy the generic photo).

People were attempting to dance in the smooshed crowd that gave off waves of heat you could see through the smoky stage lights. Songs were played off The Broken String, which actually are mostly songs off the 12 Eps from 2006, including Click, Click, Click, Click , The Chinatown Bus (which is an actual bus that runs from the Chinatown in NY to the one in Boston and is wicked cheap), Middle Management, and Like Castanets (a favorite of mine). There were also some songs I didn't quite recognize, but you know, that happens.

So yeah, pretty satisfying night of music. Even if the Echoplex had MIA downstairs and whenever the music came to a quite spot upstairs all you could hear was THUMPATHUMPATHUMPA, and it felt like an earthquake.