The Shout Out Louds played The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco last night, May 18th, 2010. They were in fine form, and had the crowd dancing, bopping and generally swooning with joy.
I’ve missed The Shout Out Louds on several occasions, so it made me really happy to finally see them live. Although the volcano did delay their arrival in the US a few days, it didn’t impact their San Francisco show. Almost their entire North American Tour has been sold out, so I felt fortunate to get a ticket last week before they were gone. The band is wonderfully tight and energetic on stage, and seemed genuinely happy to be playing for such an enthusiastic crowd. The feeling was mutual. They covered every single one of my favorites including, Normandie, The Comeback, Impossible, Walls, Fall Hard, You Are Dreaming, Tonight I Have To Leave It, Our Ill Wills, and South America. I kept thinking of the SNL skit, “More Cowbell” as they had plenty of yummy extra percussion with small cowbells, blocks, tambourines, and the like.
Unusual for me, I wasn’t up front for pix. I’d had another commitment earlier in the evening. We got there quite late, and were only able to catch three songs from Freelance Whales, but enjoyed this little bit of the set that we did see.
Truth be told, I usually avoid The Great American Music Hall because the lighting is so poor. Not so last night. Between the fog machine and the wonderfully clear white backlights and spotlights, the ambiance was magical. With the brighter lights, you could really appreciate the old-world beauty of this historic music venue that’s been a fixture of San Francisco since 1907.
I was on cloud nine leaving the show, and even a quintessential San Francisco parking ticket for “failure to curb wheels on greater than a 3% grade” didn’t put me in a foul mood. It was a great night.
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