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It's another complicated evening in Central Square, with the Rumble finals competing with a Kids In Need benefit with a really good lineup. In an attempt to have it all, we start out at TT's, where Ninety In Ninety are nearly done when we arrive. What I hear of their music is kind of swampy and good, but it takes some getting into, and I don't really have time before they're done. Valerie Forgione is next, playing guitar and singing, accompanied by Ken Michaels on bass, guitar, and backing vocals. I just love Valerie's voice; her friendly, slightly self-effacing stage presence; and her incredible musicality, which comes through in her killer songwriting and her mastery of tone and phrasing. They play some new songs, which make gorgeous use of harmony and counterpoint, and Ken's voice underpins Valerie's beautifully. He also plays some fancy lead bass on a song or two. They finish with an old Mistle Thrush favorite.
Then it's downstairs for the beginning of the end of this year's Rumble. The Brett Rosenberg Problem play a loose, confident set. There are a couple of minor screwups, which will prove to be the case with all three bands competing tonight, but they're handled very smoothly and in good humor. In fact, if there's anything wrong with Brett's show, it's that everything is handled smoothly and in good humor. There is powerful stage presence and rock star posturing here, but it all seems vaguely ironic, like we're all supposed to be amused by the rock star posturing. I love that, myself, but I can see how other people would find it unconvincing. Still, I think "Orange Line" will probably be the best song played in this room tonight.
We head upstairs for the set change and catch part of Thalia Zedek's set. I don't know if I just needed to have seen her in the basement of a drag bar to get her or what, but I'm really liking Thalia's music now. It doesn't hurt that the part of tonight's set that I get to see is all in neat, driving threes and sixes, which makes me wanna dance. I'd love to stay for the whole set, but we feel the floor start to pound beneath our feet as The Dents start their set, so we head back downstairs.
The Dents are, of course, phenomenal at what they do, and they have the most rabidly enthusiastic fans of the night. There are a couple of minor bobbles--I am particularly amused when the lead guitarist surprises me by stepping out front for a solo after the FIRST chorus of a song, (instead of the SECOND chorus that his solos inevitably follow) only to have Jen come right in over him and see Michelle's demure smirk as he smoothly slips back into support mode and steps away from the audience. It is in part a testament to their polish and perfection that such small incidents really stand out, but it also reflects a certain predictability in their songs. Still, as I've said before, to be predictably awesome is not such a bad thing.
Having missed the beginning of The Dents' set, I stick around for the set change this time. (Tom goes back upstairs, and tells me that Victory At Sea were really good and I might like them.) Jake Brennan and The Confidence Men then come out and rip the place up with a lot of wild, barely controlled energy. There are some technical issues, and Jake's voice veers into crazed from time to time, but there's such an enormous amount of pure rock and roll power here that it's impossible to avoid being swept up in it. The secret weapons here are Eric Barlow, who is a guitar god and a freak of nature, and Scott Janovitz, whose keyboard playing takes this band over the top. (I've never seen someone step out in front of the keyboard and keep playing behind his back before!) Oh, and the boots; it's really all about the boots.
Back upstairs, where Black Helicopter are serving up the sludgy, mid-tempo distorted jangle of which they are the masters. That almost sounds like a bad thing when I put it like that, but I promise you, this is the richest, most poignant, and most rewarding sludgy, mid-tempo distorted jangle you've ever heard. Tim seems to be sick, but he soldiers on and sounds great. And just when I thought this night couldn't get all that much better, Chris Pearson joins them on stage for their last song, a sort of mini-pseudo-Green Magnet School reunion, and they do "Windshield," one of the greatest songs ever to come out of a Boston band. I had no idea that this was going to happen, and those of us in the audience who bought "Bloodmusic" when it first came out and have loved it ever since are freaking the fuck out at our good fortune. This would totally be worth the $12 and the trip to Central Square just for this song. It sounds fantastic, and makes a fine and fitting ending for the night. There can be no encore after that.
We arrive back downstairs just as the Von Bondies are finishing up, meaning we are just in time to see Jake Brennan crowned the Rumble winner. (Amanda Palmer passes on the tiara that she won last year, all Dolled up in a poufy pink prom dress that must be seen to be believed.) I was in the enviable position of being really psyched for any of the three finalists to win it, and I think any of them could have, but tonight, it's all about the boots.
