Show Recap: Neon Indian + The Smith Westerns [Lincoln Hall, Chicago, 10/27/09]

First thing's first: If you've not yet heard, there's a brand new concert venue in Chicago. It's called Lincoln Hall and it's a 500 capacity place put together by the owners of Schubas. Lincoln Hall opened a little over a week and a half ago, and in that brief period of time they've had such notable acts as Mike Doughty, Ted Leo and Ben Gibbard with Jay Farrar all play there. On Tuesday night it was time for Chicago's own The Smith Westerns along with Neon Indian to help break the venue in further. I'll get to their individual sets in just a minute, but I'd like to remark about how classy and cool Lincoln Hall really is, with a great beer selection and food menu, not to mention the nice stage setup and sound system that's nothing short of excellent. It may not have the intimacy and history (though that building has housed many great things) that Schubas does, but as a new place to see a slightly larger indie show, I'd just like to say that I'm impressed and wish it the best of luck in the coming months and hopefully years.

For a Tuesday night show, I was a little surprised to see that there were four artists on the bill that night. I did miss the first two, one of which was the great Prairie Cartel, but arrived just in time to see The Smith Westerns take the stage. The band is made up of a rag-tag bunch of 18 and 19 year olds who for the most part look like they've just emerged from puberty. Yet that hasn't stopped them from garnering a surprisingly large amount of buzz around the music scene, with their punky, lo-fi self-titled debut album getting high praise from important publications. This was The Smith Westerns' first show back in Chicago after their long weekend at CMJ in New York, during which they reportedly caused all kinds of mischief that included working extra hard to do some underage drinking. They were apparently kicked out of at least one venue for doing so, though most reports at some of the more popular showcases said they were on good behavior. I can assure you that they were also on good behavior during their Lincoln Hall show, where they decided to tear through the tracks on their album almost as fast as they could. The pace was very frantic, and the sound mix sonically clearer than how it sounds on record. Whether that was by design or just because the venue's sound system was too excellent to allow for a muddy mix, this was the cleanest I've ever heard the band sound. I wouldn't call that a bad thing, but it did make these ramshackle kids seem more prim and proper, which to be quite frank isn't exactly the best look on them. The songs were actually the best part of the band's performance. Call it a lack of experience, but though the energy may have been high, they spent much of their set standing in the same place and doing workmanlike renditions of their album tracks. The stage banter was also a little iffy, like this intro, "This song is called 'Dreams'. It's about dreams." Yep, pure Shakespeare. But again, it's not like these boys are fully weather-tested performers just yet. For being at the place they're currently at in their careers, The Smith Westerns are actually doing just fine. As they spend more time on the road and write/record new material, expect their sound and live show to improve dramatically. At least that's what I'd hope for. Until then, I suppose they deserve a break or at least a hefty dose of slack. I did enjoy the set thoroughly, and that's about all I was looking for in the first place.

The Smith Westerns- Be My Girl

Buy "Smith Westerns" from Amazon

Headlining the night was the freshly hypeworthy Neon Indian, otherwise known as Alan Palomo and his band of merry misfits. Neon Indian's debut album "Psychic Chasms" can be considered part of the very recent explosion of bedroom dance pop currently being labeled a number of different things which nobody can seem to settle on. I suppose the most frequent term I hear used is "glo-fi," which signals, you know, a mixture of the frequent dance club tool glowsticks combined with a lo-fi aesthetic. And while this fascination with this sort of music will surely be fleeting and reach backlash capacity by the end of the year, the Neon Indian album is actually very good on its own and I'm hopeful that they'll survive the ever-impending rebellion. Now prior to this set, I was under the impression that given Palomo's collaboration with visual artist Alicia Scardetta, that meant the Neon Indian live show would be both a visual and aural spectacle. This turned out to not be the case, as the stage setup was simplistic in design with a mere black backdrop and traditional lighting (though some overhead colored lights did swirl around the room a few times during the set). The lack of a visual element placed the emphasis back on the music itself, which given how good it is, was perfectly okay.

Much like The Smith Westerns, Neon Indian was coming off a large number of shows at CMJ in New York over the weekend. Unlike The Smith Westerns, they were able to avoid being labeled troublemakers. But with nary a break in sight, Neon Indian didn't stop to take any rest after CMJ. I'm not entirely convinced that was a good idea, especially coming straight off playing multiple shows each day, but who am I to judge? It just seemed to me that Alan Palomo seemed a little tired during the set. Not that it detracted from the dance party happening in the crowd. Granted, it wasn't a frenzied, massive dance party, but given the moderate-sized crowd and somewhat low BPM on a number of the band's songs, the crowd energy was about what you'd expect on Tuesday night. The band powered through their set, essentially playing "Psychic Chasms" in its entirety, and it was a good sign when everything shut down and everyone started chanting for one more song. I don't think they had any more songs they could play, which is why there was no encore, but the point is that we all wanted one anyways. It was fun and we were all enjoying ourselves. It marked a lovely way to cap off the evening, and Neon Indian wound up doing themselves some justice after all. Now I do want to give special credit to special guest Leanne Macomber from Fight Bite on keyboards, who was cute as a button getting her dance on and clapping along with the music on stage. Alan Palomo may be the front and center of this project, but she was the one to watch for that performance. I'm convinced she singlehandedly brought the set where it needed to be, which is why I wanted to take a moment to mention it.

Neon Indian- Deadbeat Summer
Neon Indian- Terminally Chill

Buy "Psychic Chasms" from Amazon

So on the whole it was a pretty good night, especially for a Tuesday. The crowd was very receptive to both the bands I saw, and there was plenty of fun to be had if you were looking for it. That, combined with a great new venue really added something extra to the proceedings. But should you have the opportunity, by all means check out either The Smith Westerns or Neon Indian in a live setting. The Smith Westerns seem to be taking a break for the moment, either to record or just to plan out their next tour, but you can still see Neon Indian in a city near you should that sound like a good idea. Have a look at the dates below.

Neon Indian Fall Tour Dates:
10-28 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
10-29 Bloomington, IN - The Bishop
10-30 Madison, WI - University of Wisconsin
10-31 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
11-07 Austin, TX - Fun Fun Fun Festival
11-08 Lubbock, TX - Bash Riprock's
11-10 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
11-11 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
11-12 Boise, ID - Neurolux
11-13 Guadalajara, Mexico - Lemon Beat
11-14 Mexico City, Mexico - Pasaje América
11-15 Seattle, WA - Nectar Lounge
11-16 Vancouver, British Columbia - Shine Nightclub
11-17 Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
11-19 San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop
11-20 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
11-21 Tuscon, AZ - Club Congress
11-22 Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room

Labels: concert, neon indian, the smith westerns