The good: Great sound. Cool decor with the long bench of seats, chandeliers, and light up go-go stands (no one took advantage of them, but it's bound to happen). Long bench of seats could keep those that want to yap during the show back there rather than annoying those at the front who are there to hear the music. Big video screens behind bar that were showing the food and beer menus but will hopefully be used in the future to show live footage of the band on stage and/or cool visuals.
Potentially bad: Bathrooms are right next to the stage which could cause issues during packed shows. The room is long and thin, rather than wide, which could make it hard to get close to the stage during packed shows. If it's sold out, you could be stuck a long way from the stage and the bathrooms. The kitchen area juts out a bit between the bar and the stage. Would have been nice if they could have cut that back to have a straight sight line from the bar to the stage. But this could also work in your favor when you are trying to get a beer as it could cut down on the number of people sitting at the bar while the music is on.
Overall impression was that this should be a great addition to the venues in Richmond, but I'm interested to see how it is during a sell-out.
Wednesday night, Indigo Girls check into The National. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 day of show for floor seats and $25 for a reserved seat in the balcony. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 and no opener is listed. The Indigo Girls are as socially active as always and they performed today at the big protest in DC against the Keystone XL pipeline. Here's video of that:
Friday night at The Broadberry, it's an Americana show with Jackass Flats, Tarrant, and Sturgeon City. Show starts at 8 and it's $7 to get in. Jackass Flats will be at the 2nd Annual Bluegrass in the Meadows festival in Ashland VA on 5/10. Here's Jackass Flats at Capital Ale House in March with "Quit Trying to Save Me":
Two Earth Day festivals on Saturday and if you don't mind walking (and you shouldn't on Earth Day) you can hit them both. RVA Earth Day is in the Manchester section. This will go from 11 AM to 7 PM. All sorts of stuff to do. Bring the kids. There will be adult beverages too. Here's the music schedule:
12 p.m. – 1 p.m. – Three Sheets to the Wind
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. – The Hit List
3 p.m. - 4 p.m. – Black Girls
4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. –Mighty Joshua
6 p.m. - 7 p.m. – DJ Williams ProjektHere's DJ Williams Projekt at the RVA Sun n' Wake Fest last year:
Over at 17th Street Farmer's Market, it's the Richmond Earth Day Festival. All sorts of stuff to do. Bring the kids. Adult beverages served (Hardywood Beer and 26 wines). Music comes from Richmond Youth Jazz Guild (11:30 AM), My Darling Fury (12:30 PM) and Goldrush (3:00 PM). Drumbot will also be there:
Saturday night, country music star Clint Black will be down at The Beacon Theatre in Hopewell. Tix are $55.50 for reserved orchestra seating and $36.50 for GA in the balcony. Doors will open at 6, show starts at 6:30 with an opener of some sort. It's been 25 years since Clint debuted on the Grand Ole Opry. Here's Clint at the Opry last year with his wife Lisa Hartman Black:
Sunday night is a really good night for music with a lot of good bands playing. I'm going to something but I'm not sure what yet. There is an early show at Gallery 5 with punk band Perfect Pussy, neo-psychedelic band Yamanataka//Sonic Titan and Green Dreams. Doors open at 5, show starts at 5:30, it's $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Here's what people are saying about Perfect Pussy:
“On stage, front woman Meredith Graves has the charisma of a star in the making.” -Billboard
“I Have Lost All Desire for Feeling, instantly evokes basement shows rank with fresh sweat, dark except for strings of christmas lights, windows shaking, overloaded PA bleating away, and the band across the jampacked room discernible only by the occasional upward-flung limb. If you make it to one of this Syracuse band’s two outer-borough shows this week, expect to leave with bangs dripping, ears keening, and heart pounding.” -Paper Mag
“One of the boldest new rock bands.” -Pitchfork
“These punk kids from the mean streets of Syracuse, New York, deliver high-energy slabs of mayhem-friendly post punk noise, a wall of guitar and Casio. Meredith Graves knows how to run her mosh pit like a dictator runs a birthday party.” -Rolling Stone
“One of the best debuts you’re likely to hear this year.” -Stereogum
Here's Perfect Pussy doing "Driver" live at The Cobalt in Vancouver on 3/23/13:
I've been into this song by Yamantaka//Sonic Titan called "One" which starts with a Native American influence and then erupts into heavy noisy psychedelia:
At Capital Ale House downtown Sunday, it's roots rocker and friend of Springsteen, Alejandro Escovedo. It's $20 to get in, doors open at 7, opener Amy Cook comes on at 8, and Alejandro comes on at 9. HERE is a review of their recent show in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Here's Alejandro and the band doing an acoustic version of their "San Antonio Rain":
And here they are rocking with "Tender Heart":
Strange Matter features psychedlic folk rock from Woods Sunday night. It's $12 to get in, Quilt and Warren Hixson open and the doors open at 8. Woods new album, "With Light And With Love" came out a week ago and it's getting good reveiws so far. Here's Woods "To Clean":
Here's a song sung by a frog and a bear to brighten up your day:
Have a great weekend!
Tony Jordan
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