11 Apr 11

Hey, blogspot readers, this band soulfully rocks! Tonight's featured On The Town adventure had SouthSide returning to Elbo Room for a soulful ...vibrant yet always energetic until the last note performance by Lake Street Dive (NY). This reviewer highly recommends checking out this amazing group of musicians (currently on tour) who held the basement lounge within their captivatingly eclectic grasp through the mix of rockin' music as well as dynamic vocal style by female lead, Rachel.

Opening with Go Down Smooth, Lake Street wasted no time in capturing the audience's attention - their set of catchy pop sound intermixed with a bit of R&B/Soul and Jazz in the melodies kept everyone groovin' to the beat. The energy from the stage was totally contagious, blogspot readers. It truly had you feeling it was Saturday night instead thinking it was Monday. Yet what amazed this reviewer the most about Lake Street was how the simplistic band set up vibrantly rocked the Elbo Room stage - a mini drum kit, bass (upright cello), guitar and Rachel, front and center on the microphone. Tiny as it sounds, you should have seen this quartet perform under such vigorous fervor ...creating nonstop energetic momentum throughout their performance. And speaking of Rachel, this dynamic vocalist definitely has some soul rooted inside her voice. SouthSide's speaking of that Aretha Franklin-type of soul in which her vocals dug deep enough to powerfully wow the eats and melt your soul. It's somewhat hard to describe but that's how SouthSide felt when hearing Rachel (along with Bridget and/or Michael on backing vocals) vividly popped each Lake Street song to life with her voice ...even while covering (Ben E. King and)The Drifters' This Magic Moment. This reviewer absolutely loved the unique music spin to this classic oldie in which Lake Street flipped the original crooner tempo into a new milennium danceable groove as Rachel soulfully rocked the lyrics.

Performing other songs off their self-titled debut album, this audience enjoyed the humor-filled tune about Bridget's amorous (sex all times of the night) neighbors in an apartment above her in Neighbor Song (track 9) - this reviewer liked how Rachel vividly captured the painted imagery via Bridget's words ...plus the music had lively bursts of trumpet energy during the instrumental bridge. During Elijah (track 7), the entire basement received some soulful as well as electrifying edification upon feeling the band's momentum but also from the dynamically powerful vocals - Rachel truly shined on this song; meanwhile during Don't Make Me Hold Your Hand, SouthSide liked hearing the smoky R&B sound off this radio-ready track which perfectly exemplified an obvious relationship frustratingly not moving forward (i.e. think of Agents Mulder and Scully if you're an X-Files fan like SouthSide while listening to this song) Besides rocking the stage with Got Me Fooled (a downtempo song with a sharp rock edge featuring a R&B/Funk melodic sound ...also off the debut album), Lake Street ended this performance with an explosive BANG of music and vocals when performing an upbeat Jazz-inspired tune Hello? Goodbye!

SouthSide suggests visiting http://www.lakestreetdive.com for details of when and where this rockin' eclectic caravan of musicians will be performing next near you, blogspot readers!


Until next time, support your local scene,
SouthSide