Last night I went to Angels & Kings in the Lower East Side to see a free show featuring I am the Avalanche, Socratic, Hamilton, Kids of Survival, and Kelsey and the Chaos. This was the first time that I had been to A&K and was excited becuase I’ve been wanting to go there. We got there early around 7:30 so we could see the first band perform. The bar itself was cute. It was a dark, cozy and quaint little bar and much smaller than what I pictured it to be. When you walked in there was a stage to the right and an area of couches to the left. Beyond that there was a bar in the back with a few stools to the side.
The show was really neat because each band played an acoustic set. Kelsey and the Chaos played first. It’s always cool when there is a female lead vocalist and I was looking forward to hearing their music after listening to them on myspace. The band sounded great and the lead vocalist, Kelsey Merritt has great stage presence and a powerhouse voice. She definitely knows how to command a crowd. The next band that played was Kids of Survival. This band was not on the line up when I had originally saw this show listing online so I didn’t know what type of music they played. I thoroughly enjoyed this powerpop/rock quartet. Gary Gordon, the band’s bassist and lead vocals had a smooth melodic voice which complimented the catchy acoustic beats. Next up was Hamilton. Having heard their music on myspace and was looking forward to hearing the Boston-based poppy rock/punk quartet live. I really liked their performance. Brendan Lynch and Scott Fatone have a distinct vocal sound that harmonizes well with the clean guitar riffs and drum beats.
Unfortunately, the rest of the night went by in a haze, which was probably due to all the $2.00 vodka drinks that I consumed and the lack of dinner that I ate. I remember listening to Socratic and I am the Avalanche vaguely later in the night and I feel bad because I wanted to to write more of a descriptive review for their sets. From what little of the music I did hear from these bands, I enjoyed.