After Kiss on Saturday, I headed over to the Triple Rock to catch Athens, Ga., trio the Whigs (in the above photo) who were as lively, intense and showy (in a good way) as the previous three times I've seen them. The stuff from their new record that's due out early next year on ATO leaned more melodic and poppy, including the title track "In the Dark," which was the second song of the set and is available as a free download. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that and several other Whigs tracks on the radio next year. The show's high points, though, were still "Right Hand on My Heart" and "Already Young," from last year's underated sophomore disc "Misson Control."
As much as I loved the Whigs again, though, the band that really blew me away was the middle-slot opener the Features, from the area south of Nashville (near where Bonnaroo is held). They have this sort of bulging mix of scrappy white-boy soul, Fratellis-like peppy Brit-rock and Walkmen-like/Dylanesque rock, all of it heavily spiced up with organ. The song "Lions" especially had the crowd roaring, and beared frontman Matt Pelham showed off a terrific soft-howling voice throughout.
The one disappointing thing about the gig was the turnout. Only about 100 people were there. Meanwhile, I saw loads of young hipsters streaming out of the Mountain Goats' show at the Cedar just as this one was getting going. I'm curious to hear how how the Goats' show was, I genuinely wanted to see it. They're a band I find weirdly fascinating. But considering their audience looked to be pretty young -- and last I checked young people still like loud, fast and heavy music (as opposed to quirky folky songs about biblical passages) -- I couldn't help but wonder why the crowd sizes weren't reversed. For that matter, though, Kiss fans might've been just as at home at the Triple Rock show.
