Frightened Rabbit @ Urban Lounge (9-14-09)

Do yourself a favor. If Frightened Rabbit are coming to your town, see them. (I imagine you can check their myspace page.) EDIT- For you Portlanders it's Dante's on Thursday night (September 17), 8 o'clock.

Though the official start time for the SLC show was 9:00, but being Urban Lounge savvy Eric and I rolled in at around 10:30 in the middle of the first song from the first opening act, We Were Promised Jetpacks, who hail from Scotland, as do all three of the bands we saw. WWPJ (if you will) were quite good, I was excited to see them and they didn't disappoint. Their urgent and emotional brand of indie rock was well suited to the venue and really warmed up the crowd, and it didn't hurt at all that they were very loud. After their set they grabbed some beers (although they didn't look much over 21) and joined the rest of us to watch The Twilight Sad.

I have always hated The Twilight Sad. After seeing them live I still hate the Twilight Sad, probably even more. Eric and I discovered the patio in the back of Urban Lounge and a drunk and friendly flight attendant posted up next to us as we waited them out. After The Twilight Sad left the stage to sparse clapping and one or two "woos" Eric and I made our way back into the club and found a pretty good spot to enjoy the main event only a couple rows away from the stage.

I had no idea what Frightened Rabbit's band members looked like and they weren't really what I was expecting, but it seemed right after they finished the first song when Scott Hutchison, the lead singer, said, "Anyone who wants to buy me a whiskey. . . well, that's an option." Several audience members quickly fulfilled his request and soon we were all drinking whiskey together enjoying the show. Highlights were the Grant Hutchison's almost spastic energy on the drums, Scott's charismatic banter between songs and breezy intensity during them. The unique intimacy and energy of the show was represented well by the encore, Scott returned to the stage plus an acoustic guitar and minus all three band-mates. He plugged in and stepped toward the front of the stage where he sang "Poke" with no microphone, the audience chiming in for the "oooh oooh ooohs." As he finished "Poke" the rest of the band joined him onstage and they kicked our asses with "Keep Yourself Warm" my favorite track from their 2008 Album Midnight Organ Fight which took the top spot on my list of favorite albums of the year.

The album is still highly recommended and please check 'em out if you have a chance, it'll probably be cheap - 10 bucks or 12 at the door in SLC.