Supporting the early-June release of Loud Planes Fly Low, The Rosebuds returned to The House of Rock on July 20 for the first time in two years and played one of the most memorable shows since its last visit.
Preceding the North Carolina duo’s performance was a set by the previously generally unheard of band Other Lives. The Oklahoma sextet was surprisingly strong considering the little-to-no buzz it brought into Eau Claire – a town normally keen on buzz. Its songs build up from the folk-pop foundation laid out by Jesse Tabish, which remains sophisticated and straight-forward at its root. Decorated and embellished by layer upon layer of stringed instruments, horns, keys and thick reverb, however, the band stretches its sound as far as it can, onto some other foggy and majestic plane somewhere above the base. It’s upon this climatic level that the listener is lead somewhere unexpected, stimulating and seductive.
Proceeding the surprise came the expected party. Kelly Crisp and Ivan Howard took to the stage along with the help of a percussionist and a few multi-instrumentalists from Other Lives. The Rosebuds explore a variety of moods so wide and so well that, whether it be live or on album, listeners are lead through a sort of enlightening test of endurance. Pumping dance songs slam into slow swings. Dark and helpless lyrics mesh with and/or into bright and hopeful lines. An entire spectrum of emotion and experience is to be dealt with within the band’s music. Able to utilize this eclectic experience, as well as the crowd’s anticipation and the adrenaline following the aforementioned Other Lives, Howard, Crisp and friends outdid themselves. As if cradling the charge running through its listeners, The Rosebuds played a slew of the best songs and catchiest hits from its well-developed discography. Reconstructing itself from a four-piece rock band on one song to a more fully orchestrated six-piece on another, then to a minimal acoustic arrangement for others, the band transfigured in whatever way it needed to to delight its crowd. After a set so impressively energetic yet tightly perfected that it seemed like an attack, the crowd left sweaty and exhausted, having been fully engaged in the grandiose act before it. Truly, this was one of the finer shows Eau Claire has hosted in a long time.
Please enjoy our shots below. Photos by Zach Oliphant. Above show review by Andy Plank.
