In other news, I saw The Morning Benders play yesterday at the Troubadour and I was a bit disappointed. I had seem them on New Years Even in San Francisco, where they played most of Big Echo, along with a few covers. This was before most people outside of the Bay Area seemed to know who they were. The band seemed young and full of energy. You could genuinely tell they were glad to be there. They wanted to have a good time, and in turn wanted us to, with which they succeeded. That was before the album came out. That was before Pitchfork gave it a great review. That was before they went on a large tour, which included South by Southwest. Last night, the first time I’d seen them since those events, they just didn’t seem to have it in them. They looked tired, like they were about to fall over. You knew they wanted to be there and put on the best show they could muster. Unfortunately they couldn’t muster much. They’re still getting accustomed to the hype and the popularity and the constant playing. A tweet by frontman Christopher Chu on Wednesday night may say it all. He said “LA rush hour traffic has never felt so good. so happy to be in California.” They were probably exhausted and overwhelmed after driving to Texas, playing god knows how many shows in a short span, and having to drive back to the west coast, all while playing in various cities. They did do the best they could. They slowed down their music, making the evening feel more intimate and personal. Chu seemed to have found a second wind near the end of the set, when he started dancing around and shredding on his guitar. That might have been what sparked the band’s “first encore performance of the tour” (I wonder if that’s true), Neil Young’s Bad Fog Of Loneliness. Whatever the case, whether they’ll regain their energy or not, they are in a great position to make it big. They essentially already have. Last night though, they could’ve used a spark, some sort of smelling salt to kick them back into top form. The show still ended up great, but you could tell they’ve been pretty overwhelmed with all the sudden success. I’m glad I was able to catch them on New Years, probably one of the last times they’ll play innocently, without a care in the world.

Tags: concert, live, Morning Benders