Upon my return, completely stuffed, the second opening band, The Toddlers, came on. This unsigned Chapel Hill band played loud rock music that was carried by the lead singer's deep voice. I couldn't quite put my finger on the depth of his voice; somewhere in-between Matt Berninger, of the National and Charlotte-based artist Benji Hughes.
By the time The Toddlers were halfway through their set, Cat's Cradle was packed. Questions of "is this Lost in the Trees?," were being answered with shouts and whispers from "This is the second band... I don't think so" and "How could you think that?", to "Hell yeah!". Needless to say, there were some very new fans in the audience, and they were about to be blown away.
After two 45-minute opening sets, the long awaited Lost in the Trees made it to the stage. Ari Picker floated across the stage as he plucked at his guitar, while Emma Nadeu did her usual amazing thing playing about eleventy-billion instruments. Having seen Lost in the Trees about 5 times now, I can say that this show had a different feeling than others. It was more focused and less ethereal. The back-up instrumentals became harder, while Ari himself became more billowy. It was a difficult scenario to describe, but I have a feeling that their new record will have many of these elements. They played a few songs that will be on that new record; they display the same musical genius as in the other albums but the energy seems stronger. They played some Lost in the Trees staples like "Song for the Painter" and "Walk Around the Lake", to which everyone sung along, even the people who in the beginning weren't sure if they were The Toddlers.
Lost in the Trees is up to great things, and always worth seeing!
It was indeed an absolutely fantastic concert. You're very right that there were a lot of people who had no idea who Lost in the Trees were, and I think the majority of the audience was very satisfied with them. I think for a brand new audience it might be hard to just jump in with Lost in the Trees, partially because you just get dumbstruck seeing them live for the first time--I know that's how it was for me.
ReplyDeleteThey definitely were more focused than they have been even in the recent past. In the winter when they played at MotorCo in Durham it was very much the ethereal playing that you spoke to, while the Cat's Cradle show was so much more structured and focused, and you could definitely see that in the new songs they played. I'm looking forward to a phenomenal new album.