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The Abbey has a spiffy new sign over the stage! It looks positively out of place amidst the heavy, grey air and sticky floors, but it's nonetheless lovely. Playing under the sign when we arrive are Triple Thick. I can't actually speak too well of their set--they are distinguished by really noticeably stupid lyrics, and they're also pretty sloppy, to the point where they have to go over chord progressions before several songs, and they start one song off so obviously playing in different keys that they give up halfway through. Practice, practice. However, I want to like them because of the way they buck the gender-role trend: if a band has one woman and three guys, she's usually not the lead guitarist. And she rocks, too; easily the best thing in the band. So practice hard, guys, and write some better words.
The AKAs are up from New York, starting their tour in Boston. The first half of their set is sad, as their roadie and the club personnel scurry around trying fruitlessly to get the keyboard audible while the keyboardist plays her parts soundlessly and occasionally shrugs. The rest of the band is pretty good, but the lead singer has a shouting, almost amelodic style that needs all the musical backing it can get, so the lack of an instrument is a real problem. He also has the habit, which I hate, of repeatedly telling us to have a good time. Urging us to come up closer, "I CAN'T HEAR YOU," that sort of thing. Dude, you concentrate on making good music and let us worry about enjoying it, okay?
Finally, The Charms show us how it's done. This is what we're here for, and the space in front of the stage is jam-packed. New drummer Meeker is EXCELLENT, and already gives the impression that he could play these songs in his sleep. Now, to be fair, the lyrics here aren't really any smarter or more interesting than Triple Thick's, but when a band is this tight, with great melodies and great harmonies, perfect stage presence, and the best damned guitar soloes you're likely to hear, I'm perfectly happy to sing along with "yeah yeah, baby, yeah." It's a good thing the sound problems are fixed, as the Farfisa has an elemental rightness in the context of these songs. We get a Zeppelin cover for an encore, and I'll take Ellie Vee over Robert Plant any day.
