Lake Street Dive & The Sun Parade @ 9:30 Club, Washington DC - 24 June 2014.
The Sun Parade
This quartet does a fine job with breezy indie rock with some folk rock moves here and some pop moves there. It is all brisk and bright, and thus is a sun parade of sorts. It is always nice when a band's name gives you the quick and dirty on their particular sound, and this band is as good as it gets in that department. This is all likable music, although I have that sense that this is easy to forget, like a decent sugary dessert that while not memorable, does the trick for that moment.
A lot of music falls into that category and it may say as much about me coming to a live show after reviewing four albums just prior. They went over well enough with the crowd and being that they hail from a quality music scene I have spent a little time in, Northampton, MA, they should continue to good things and will hopefully grow into a solid headliner some day.
Lake Street Dive
This is one powerhouse of a band and what is somewhat unusual these days, the power comes from the vocals. Instrumentally, they are on the lighter side although that is lighter on volume and heavy on style. Rachael Price's lead vocals have all the bluesy power we have all heard before, but with plenty of range and style shifts into whatever direction the songs go. The guitarist switches off to trumpet, which even further showcases the vocals.
I should add that all members supply decent backing vocals frequently. The rhythm section also deserves star billing as the acoustic bass and drums have a playful swing style which is underused these days compared to the late sixties when it was pretty much de rigueur.
This band sold out the club tonight and many people here were highly familiar with this band from many successful past shows as well as their fine recorded works. It is fascinating to think of this music occurring at any point in the last 50 years. I would think this band would succeed just about anywhere along that spectrum. They certainly succeeded tonight.
Photo Credits:
(1) Lake Street Dive (unknown/website).
