drowners @ great american music hall (3/14)

The thing about concerts is that after attending one, it's all you're going to want to do for a while. I have  Lana del Rey's show coming up on Friday, so before the experience and energy of that one consumes me, I'll write up this quick post about Monday's show at Great American Music Hall.

My friend Dainiz and I went to see Drowners (the opening band) and Temples the other night. There were several people, including us, who were really only there for Drowners from the looks of it -- the venue itself was more or less empty until Temples took the stage.

Unfortunately, given the lighting, continuous movement, and the fact that the camera on my phone isn't exactly the best, most of my photos didn't turn out so well despite being in the second row. It's nothing to mope about, though -- I had a great night, and there were plenty of nice photos from others in the #Drowners tag on Instagram.

I also took two quick videos of A Button on Your Blouse and Luv, Hold Me Down.

One thing I immediately noticed was that Drowners had great energy on stage! I think I might prefer their sound live to that of the studio, actually. (Sure, actually being there probably has a lot to do with it.) Jack Ridley on the guitar, in particular, was quite interactive with the audience.

Seeing as they were only opening (and that the duration of their debut album is about 30 minutes), they left the stage after a short set. A crew began to prep the stage for Temples, and people in the front began to leave too. Dainiz and I were at the very front row now, and the venue is quite small, so the shows make for a very intimate experience. 

However, the venue was starting to fill up fast, and there were some antsy Temples fans making their way to the front. Since we were only there for Drowners, we didn't mind giving up our spots at the front. We saw Drowners leave backstage and walking towards the merch table, so we left the crowd in that direction in hopes of being able to have a chat with them. And we did!

They were super friendly and eager to talk to fans. Matt Hitt (lead singer) was very patient when it came to taking photos -- the lighting was especially dim, and flash is especially unflattering, so there were plenty of retakes. I can't even remember how many we had to take. (I have a few photos with their new drummer, but the lighting is so awful that no amount of editing or filters could save it. Oh well.)

Luckily Dainiz brought her Fujifilm Instax camera, which yielded nice photos:

They stuck around the merch table for a while to talk to everyone, and by now the venue was definitely full. Temples came on stage, and conversation had to resort to shouting in order to hear anything. Anyway, Drowners eventually left, so after some mingling, I got a shirt and a free poster, and took a quick shot of Temples before we exited the venue:

Needless to say, the rest of the night went well. We were out of the venue earlier than expected so we stuck around whatever places happened to be open at the time. (Things in San Francisco close unfortunately early). Drowners are still continuing their US tour so I'm not sure when they'll be back, but when they do return to the bay area, I'll be sure to see them play again!

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In other news, I have another article coming up on College Fashion's Fashion Inspired by Art column today, so check back there in a few hours. I probably won't be making a separate post for it this time around.

Next time: Lana del Rey!