Au Revoir Simone w/Oh No! Oh My !@ Lee's Palace

I suppose right away that it should be noted that the girls in Au Revoir Simone are way cute. Waaaay cute. However, I'm not in the habit of dishing out my hard earned moneys to attend a concert based on superficialities. Therefore, it should more importantly be noted that the girls in Au Revoir Simone are also way talented. Their CD "Bird Of Music" has been on my playlist for several weeks, and it's exactly the type of sweet pop delight that one requires at the end of a hectic day or week or year. I saw them open for Peter Bjorn and John back in May, and although I admired their performance back then, I felt that last night they significantly kicked it up a notch. It's likely a challenge to be animated and entertaining within the constraints of a three keyboard setup, but I thought the girls were all that and more. Annie Hart is probably the most energetic of the bunch, dancing and rocking out in such a way that you feel that even if she was only successfully entertaining herself, you'd imagine that would be fine with her. Of course, that wasn't the case. We were ALL entertained! Erika Forster played the role of sort of the frontwoman, enthusiastically soliciting handclaps and jump-arounds, and even occasionally mugging for the several cameras that were in action that night. (She even posed for my camera and what would have been an awesome picture except that my camera stinks and wouldn't focus properly... gotta get a better camera!) And finally, Heather D'Angelo, probably my favorite one, was note perfect as the shy one of the trio. I don't know if she is actually shy. I get the feeling she isn't but she did stay rather reserved in comparison to the other two. Still, they had a terrific chemistry and they all seemed genuinely enthusiastic (and even a tad surprised) that Lee's Palace was hosting such a devoted group of fans.

Download: Through The Backyards mp3
or listen to more of their music on myspace.

Check out my pics of Au Revoir Simone on flickr.

The opening act was Oh No! Oh My! from Texas. I had never heard of them but I did sample their music a little bit before the show. They perform perfect summery indie pop that would sit nicely next to Yo La Tengo, Bishop Allen or even Neutral Milk Hotel. They had just released an EP entitled "Between The Devil and the Sea," and from what I've heard, it sounds instantly likable. The songs also fit nicely into a live setting and, besides the band being instrumentally very tight, they were also a lot of fun to watch. Honorable mention goes to keyboardist Tim Regan, who gets my vote for rock star of the year as he bounces around the stage with reckless abandon, keeping the audience (and it seems the rest of the band too) in stitches for the duration of the show.

Listen to their music on myspace.

Check out my pics of Oh No! Oh My! on flickr.