I biked up to Hale's Palladium last night to catch the release party for Hockey Star, the newest EP for Big Little Dipper Dipper--a limited release of 1111 copies on Eleven Records, the label of Jason Webley, local indie folk hero and one-third of the band. (The other two-thirds consist of Oliver Orion and Caitlin Rippey.)
The full set opened with Oliver Orion's solo material. Sadly, I came in towards the end of his set, so only caught a few songs, sung with just guitar and voice--enough that I resolved to check out more of his material, but not enough that I could really develop a solid view of the show.
Next up was Princess Seismograph, a three-person troupe consisting of Caitlin Rippey, Helen Parson, and Jay Thompson. They played a short set, combining lo-fi indie folk sounds, three-part vocal harmonies, and a pitch-perfect sense of humor both in showmanship and lyrics. The result is an excellent band which happens to play delightfully silly music.
Jason Webley followed with a solo act, which consisted, as he described it himself, mostly of playing the accordion, stomping, and screaming--as well as a few songs on guitar. His set ranged from silly to serious in a completely organic fashion. Between songs, he was excited, funny, and engaging. This is exactly what a solo show should be
After a short (really!) break to ready props and costumes, the three opening acts combined to form "futuristic retro party band" Big Little Dipper Dipper. I'm not going to even attempt to characterize their music, as it was all over the place--this is where most of the weirder songs of the night found themselves being played. But there's no denying that they were fun, or that the band was having fun. The choreography shot for funny rather than impressive.
There were no lengthy pauses between sets for setting up. The stage felt more like the set of a high school talent show than that of a rock concert. Sometimes the mic was foregone for just standing at the edge of the stage and being as loud as possible. Overall the show felt like the sort of show a group of friends might put on for each other--the bands were having fun and not taking themselves seriously, and it made it a lot easier to have fun with the show in turn.
And for some reason I haven't been able to figure out, this show had an incredibly high concentration of flat caps and fedoras, and when the crowd sang along, they sounded more like a choir than a crowd. It made me happy.
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