The show last night mirrored the changing seasons we're starting to feel in the world at large, with shimmering summery rock from Talking Points, flowing into the blustery bombast of local standbys Dracula Jones, and concluding with the crowd seeking comfort in the a favorite hoody of warm familiar favorites from Everclear. It was The Syracuse Seen's first time covering a show at Sharkey's, and it was better than expected. The Show itself is in the covered pavilion which appeared to be equipped with heat for when the seasons change. It also has what had to be one of the most unique seating options in the form of a beached cabin cruiser. There were multiple bars and lines were never long. If you're bothered by smoke be aware there was a good amount of smoking, though for the first time in a long time, I never smelled weed. It wasn't overwhelming and was almost atmospheric given that it was period appropriate for a night of '90's rock.
3/4 of Talking Points
Long Island's Talking Points got night started off with their brand of "Death Cab for Cutie and Minus the Bear go surfing" brand of rock. While the crowd wasn't signing along to their set, based on the number of cellphones videoing their set, it seems likely the crowd will be singing along to them on Spotify in the near future. The most popular song of their set was far and away their cover of Cold Play's "Yellow" and it had the whole crowd singing. I'm honestly not sure who was more excited, the crowd or Talking Points when they thought their set was over and found out from the wings that they actually had time for another song. They seemed genuinely thrilled to be able to be on stage the little bit longer.
Dracula Jones
Dracula Jones, a staple of the Syracuse rock scene, took the stage with their usual bombast. They brought distortion and swagger, and they did not let up at all until the last notes of their set died from the PA. Unfortunately, the crowd just didn't seem to resonate as strongly with their performance as much as with the other acts of the night. That is purely an observation not intended to be critical of their energy or showmanship. Having covered other shows, including one's they've headlined I've seen how crowds can react to them. I suspect it was more related to them being the most aggressive and hardest rocking act of the lineup, while the other two bands lean more Top-40 radio friendly. Dracula Jones just has more in common with the bands in rotation on 95X and KROCK while the others have more crossover potential with the likes of 93Q.
Art Alexakis of Everclear
Everclear are fully aware they are no longer a young band, and how could they, when celebrating the 30th anniversary of "World of Noise" and their major label release (with their biggest hit, "Santa Monica") will be 30 next year. There is no doubt the crowd was of a similar vintage. At one point, the crowd was asked to raise their hand if they had kids, and a majority in attendance raised hands. As veteran rockers, Everclear has a confident yet humble stage presence. This is not a band asking the crowd to "show me your horns" or indulging in prolonged guitar solos while grimacing dramatically in a power stance. They did incorporate familiar rock show tropes, like dueling guitars, and holding out the mic to encouraging crowd singing, but while other rockers relish in chewing the scenery, at times Everclear seemed almost self conscious about being stars on stage. Lead guitarist Davey French seemed to hide from the spotlight, with dark sunglasses on and a hat pulled low, tending to stay rooted stage left and saving most of his moments of power stance theatrics for when he was upstage and near the drum riser. Freddy Herrera was the most energetic by far, spinning around like a tornado, or flailing his bass around in ways that make my wrist creak just to think about. He also was often thrust into front man banter duty when lead vocalist Art Alexakis had to swap guitars which sometimes seemed to take longer than usual for other bands.
Bassist Freddy Herrera working the crowd.
The crow loved every minute of it. They bantered right back with Freddy. They sang along to every song. They clapped along in unison when called upon to do so. The radio hits especially resonated with the crowd, and Everclear delivered by playing every one: from Father of Mine to Santa Monica.
Comments