Friday, Austin and I went to see one of our favorite artists perform at one of our favorite venues. If you haven’t figured it out by the title of this post, we saw Ben Kweller at the Granada.
The Granada has been one of my favorite venues since I moved to Dallas. Since it used to be an actual theatre, it has not only character but also has amazing sound. It’s a mid-size venue, so you also don’t have to worry about ever having a bad seat. Although, you don’t have any seats… But that’s a bit beside the point. The point here is that I love the Granada. I’ve seen Mates of State, Ben Kweller, Jones Street Station, Black Kids, Girl Talk, Pete Yorn, and many others all at the Granada and each show has been amazing.
Saturday, the opening act was The Orbans. Even though we came in about halfway through the set, I was still impressed. As the opening act, they weren’t quite as good as the show we were there to see, it was easy to see that they had serious talent. My biggest pet peeve throughout the entire set was that their intros were waaay too long. I’m not a fan of huge of those long, spiraling intros into a song. When it is coming from a band that is the opening act, I don’t like it at all. I also never understood why you would play a six minute intro for a three and a half minute song (and not even for the case that you’re trying to introduce your band). But really, they were a talented band and didn’t need to have such in order to prove they knew how to play!
Next up was Sleeper Agent. I honestly thought they were a lot like every other indie rock band out there. It seemed a lot of people had come to the show purely for Sleeper Agent, and this surprised me a bit. Sleeper Agent was good, but I just wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be. Especially having several people tell me while they were setting up just how great and how amazing and how deep they were. Maybe I was just expecting something… more? They were good, but I’m pretty sure I have about six other artists in my Google Play library that they sound a lot like. If I were to be given their music or if I had extra money in my Google Play account that I didn’t realize I had, I would by an album or two. I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to a concert just for them. If you’re a fan of the indie scene and you can’t get enough of the indie/hipster music scene, I would highly recommend them.
Ben Kweller… Oh what can I say about Ben? This isn’t the first time I’ve seen him so I thought I knew what to expect. I thought that it would be quite similar to his set that I saw last year with songs from his newest album Go Fly a Kite thrown in. I would have been completely happy if that was the case since that really was a great show. From the moment he came on stage, I knew this would be different from last time. His last album had a lot more slower, moody songs (and wanting to feature these songs more) so the show featured more of his slower songs. This show was a rock show. He drew the crowd in and the atmosphere was just as important as the actual music.
All in all, BK put on yet another fabulous show. Also, if you've yet to go to a show at the Granada, do yourself a favor and go. It is always money well spent. (Unless you were dumb enough to go see the Ting Tings, I don't think even the Granada could help them sound decent)
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