Saturday January 21, 2007
La Zona Rosa
Second night of SnoCore ‘07
Dropping Daylight, HURT, Army of Anyone
Review by Micah Hargrave
As usual, we arrived early to assure front row access, only to find that we could have waited an hour longer, foregone the thirty degree temperatures and rain outside, and walked right to the edge of the stage.
La Zona Rosa in Austin, TX is the smallest venue I’ve, personally, been to. There’s an open bar in the back, and metal buckets on the floor to catch the rain as it drips through the not-so-new roof. I deemed La Zona Rosa to be perfect for a night of rock and roll.
Dropping Daylight proved to be one of the best opening bands I’ve seen. I use the term, “opening band” loosely, as I would pay to see them headline. I am a fan of the piano, and of the electric guitar. While there are bands that try to mix the two, Dropping Daylight is able to create a fusion that screams, “Try and top this, Coldplay.” These guys are young and very eager to please their fans, as well as make new ones.
Next to the stage, and my real reason for driving to Austin, was HURT. This made the fourth time for me to see HURT, and I’m wondering if it’s possible to write a bad review of any of their performances. One word always comes to mind throughout their set: Phenomenal. At a time when I was about ready to give up on new music that could impact me the way it did as a child, HURT came along with one of, if not the best, cds I’ve had the pleasure of owning. Vol. 1 is music and songwriting at it’s finest, and HURT’s live performances leave everyone more than satisfied, and buying more concert tickets. As if their set list from Vol. 1 wasn’t enough, we got to hear three new tunes in Austin, one of which, I will not be able to get enough of. After their set, as always with HURT, they walked out to meet their fans, and for the most part, stayed with us to watch the headliner’s performance.
Army of Anyone is a new band that is not new at all. Richard Patrick of Filter, lends his voice to two of my all time favorite guitarists, Dean and Robert DeLeo, the founding members of Stone Temple Pilots. Their drummer, Ray Luzier, I’m told, is a former studio drummer that has played on numerous cds, and his is outstanding, to say the least. AoA played songs from their debut album, along with tracks from Filter and STP. To hear “Hey Man Nice Shot,” and “Vaseline” performed live in the same night, makes for a memorable experience, though there was another treat that night that will also stay with me forever. In the middle of AoA’s set, they announced that The Meat Puppets were there, and were going to perform a couple of songs. Sure enough, they did. I watched part of the show with Josh Ansely of HURT, and he was as giddy as I, taking pictures and smiling the entire time.
We ended up being some of the last people to leave La Zona Rosa, simply because the guys from HURT are so easy to talk to. Handshakes all around, as well as a friendly, “See ya tomorrow in Ft. Worth,” our Austin experience was complete.
