Wintersleep
Date: October 4, 2008 Link to the Senses Wintersleep are a dependably hard-working live act. Their set at Barrymore's matched the expectations that I had from past festival appearances, including a stop at Bluesfest three months earlier, making for a fun night. Brooklyn's Dirty On Purpose opened the concert. I knew the band by name only but I soon decided that if I had to sum up their set in a word, it would be pleasant. With drummer Doug Marvin's clear and high vocals leading the way in the mix, the group displayed an accessible indie pop sensibility. The hooky songs continued, with guitarists Joseph Jurewicz and George Wilson taking turns at lead vocals. A closing instrumental upped the force considerably, displaying an unexpected dose of grit and power in an otherwise calm but effective opening slot. Barrymore's was sold out well in advance for this concert; and the influx of university students was evident in the preponderance of youthful faces as the floor filled in. The young audience lived up to expectations, being fairly enthusiastic but also far too chatty throughout the headlining set. Fortunately, Wintersleep generally kick out enough volume to override such distractions, although singer Paul Murphy did end up asking one presumably inebriated fan at the front to stop clapping off-time during the acoustic intro to a song. As usual, the mix at Barrymore's was very good, with Wintersleep sounding as great as Dirty On Purpose had before them, albeit louder. The set concentrated on last year's Welcome to the Night Sky, with a small nod to older songs and at least one unrecorded one. Wintersleep has a strong commitment to touring; and they fire like a well-tuned machine on each song. "Oblivion," "Weighty Ghost," "Dead Letter and the Infinite Yes," and "Danse Macabre" were among the highlights of a fast-moving set. While the band mixed up the ending from the drum solo featured at Bluesfest, the night did conclude with a wild jam. For me, the image of the concert was bassist Mike Bigelow facing drummer Loel Campbell at the end of that freak-out, the former with head bowed and sweat falling freely, the latter pounding out fills with facial expressions worthy of a cartoon character. As always, Wintersleep brought the goods to this sold-out show; and Dirty On Purpose also contributed to a solid evening of music. <--Prev (The Dears) | Next (Cadence Weapon)-->Return to Concert ListReturn to Main Page |