Saturday June 7 Bruar Falls: Dark Meat

I was on the fence about this show. I have Dark Meat's only album, and I saw them last year. Both the show and the album were enjoyable, but neither really blew me away. The album sort of lost steam for me towards the end, and I thought a lot of the band members at last year's show were unnecessary. Especially the fiddle player who spent more time dancing around than playing her instrument.

This time the band was only a nine-piece with only one backup singer/dancer. The fiddle players were gone as well as the 2nd drummer. This was probably for the best since the stage wasn't even big enough for the band they had. The trumpet players had to play in front of the stage, and the band was still smashed together. But it worked. Everything sounded great, and the band was much more tight and focused than the previous show. They only played one song I recognized --"Three Eyes Open"; the rest of the songs were new. I missed "Freedom Ritual", but for the most part I loved the new songs. I had trouble singling any one song out as a favorite because nearly every song was at least as good if not better than the last.

And the band had just as much energy as last time, but it was more focused. Sure, the backup singer did more dancing than singing, but that's what she's better at. And the trumpet players were jumping around, but they were ready to play when their time came. And the one drummer seemed to accomplish just as much as two drummers did last time. I think the band benefited from playing in a smaller venue. This time everyone was forced to get close together, and the band could really feed off of the audience's energy. Last time, The Musichall of Williamsburg felt woefully empty. Hopefully things will pick up for Dark Meat. I can't imagine that they can afford to keep touring and losing money with the audiences they are drawing currently (probably a reason the band was scaled back).

Pictures soon hopefully.