The diverse, yet still rockin’ line-up of Fake Problems, Kiss Kiss, and Paper & Sand at New York City’s Mercury Lounge made for an awesome evening, that was both visually entertaining and musically sound. Alone at 3am also performed but I came in just as they were finishing up. With such an early start, even for a Wednesday, there wasn’t much of a crowd in the room. But when hometown guys Paper & Sand came up, the room seemed to explode with a whole crew of guys, but mostly girls dancing and jumping around to their catchy music. Singer Will also had strong vocals that went really nice with the music. After their last song, loud cheers could be heard and the crowd wanted more, but Kiss Kiss would soon have to make their way to the stage.
Kiss Kiss is one of those bands whose music really comes alive when you seen them live. Their music warrants moving around and their stage performance is worth seeing. This show was the band’s cd release for their second full length “The Meek Shall Inherit What’s Left” which was available at the show despite the July 7th release. Their songs have a tendency to be light, slow and beautiful, mostly because of violinist Rebecca, but then builds to this crazy, fast, almost circus-sounding music. With that the band moves around and has some interesting interactions with one another. They played “Iris and Eye,” “The Cats in Your House,” and “Vagabond” off “Reality Vs. The Optimist” and new songs like the driving “All They Draw,” “Innocent,” “Through the Day,” and closer “Virus,” during which the band went nuts, jumping around and almost looking like they were going to run into each other and break instruments.
Florida’s Fake Problems then made their way on stage. A Florida flag was in front of the stage. With a trumpet player, keyboardist, bassist, guitarist and two percussionists, the band made their show a lot of fun with all that instrumentation. Blending punk, rock, and folk, the band’s set was solid with songs like the “Diamond Rings,” “Sorry ok Sorry Ok Sorry Ok,” and “Down and Raised.” There were plenty of sing-along songs, moving, and “oh oh ohs.” You could tell the band was having fun, the crowd was into it and smiles could be seen. That’s what mattered.
More pics below.
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