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The Media Club isn’t the worst live music venue I’ve ever been to, but it’s close. A claustrophobic rectangular room where only the eleven people at the very front of the room will see anything more than the musician’s heads, with the added bonus of having the washrooms located behind the stage, meaning that as soon as more than five people are in the club, getting from the bar to the bathroom to the merch table to the best head-watching location is an adventure worthy of Indiana Jones but as much fun as Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. On top of that, sexist bag policies required me (the boy) to coat check my small map bag, while one of my companions (a girl) was allowed to bring in her MONSTER purse, which proved big enough to hold my bag, CDs, sweaters and a rectangular brick. Huh.

(Also, the sound mix was not very good.)

Ordinarily these factors would result in concert of suck, but both David Bazan & His Band (who we were there to see) and openers Say Hi played strong sets of enjoyable music with good-natured banter from Mr. Bazan. Intriguingly, the bearded Bazan played bass guitar on this night, accompanied by two bearded guitar players, a bearded drummer, and a bearded keyboardist/shakers/whatever guy (guitarist Blake Wescott had the most glorious beard of all the manly beards on stage). Performing primarily material from his first solo LP, Curse Your Branches, the Bazan set displayed just how far he’s come from his early days on Jade Tree writing sad indie rock (”Magazine” from 2002’s Control was the farthest David reached into his back catalogue). The Americana-alternative folk rock set had depth and soul. Bazan’s self-effacing banter, combined with the excellent performance of the musicians and the emotional resonance of the new material helped the band overcome the challenges presented by the venue to put on a memorable show. There was no encore.

The opening act of a rock show is too often a write-off, but Seattle’s Say Hi were all like, ‘screw you, typical lousy opening act!’ Equal parts Interpol and Joe Christmas, the three-piece indie rock act played for forty minutes and grabbed the attention of most of the room, despite the hot and stuffy atmosphere. Four songs in I spelunked my way to the merch table to buy a CD. They were great. GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY.

(By the way, Bazan’s merch guy was awesome – knowledgeable and patient, on his recommendation I bought the vinyl of Curse Your Branches – it has a different, vinyl-specific mix, plus a download card to get hiqh-quality MP3s of the tracks. Thanks merch guy!)

SETLIST
Hard to Be
Please, Baby, Please
I Do
Bless This Mess
I Never Wanted You
Magazine
Heavy Breath
Cold Beer & Cigarettes
When We Fell
Lost My Shape
Curse Your Branches
Fewer Moving Parts
Bearing Witness
Keep Swinging
How I Remember
In Stitches

Ryan Ro [www.RNSrobot.com | www.twitter.com/RNSrobot]