Afternoon Tea

It's 4:17 and I'm still a bit hungover. So it goes when you dance and drink until 1:30 in the morning, courtesy of the best concert I've been to in over two years. I went to Stubbs last night with jimmer and MMHorns to catch Green Lemon for the first time.

We arrived at Stubbs at 9:00, thinking we'd catch the last bit of the opening band - Moving Matter (MySpace page here) - and get settled in to a good spot for when Green Lemon took the stage. As it turned out, Moving Matter was just starting their set, and we were damn lucky it worked out that way. After opening with some reggae sounding slower stuff, the band erupted into some of the most completely hypnotizing jams I've heard in a long time. Captivated, we positioned ourselves at the top of the balcony (inside stage) and let ourselves go with the music. The band wonderfully integrates synthesized sounds into the music to create a rich, diverse, and unpredictable sound. After a solid hour of jamming (couldn't tell you the names of the songs; we were Moving Matter virgins), Moving Matter opened a song with a riff that sounded to MMHorns and I a hell of lot like Phish's "Tweezer". As they continued, it became clear that it was Tweezer. And then, it was time for the lyrics and. . .

It wasn't Tweezer. Moving Matter had their own lyrics for the song, and we were totally caught by surprise - in a very good way. (As an aside, MMHorns swears the lyrics were from a Beatles song, but I don't recall that. I think I may have been too lost in the music to notice.) Now even more captivated, we listened (and danced), waiting to see where they'd take the big jam after the second verse. I couldn't put the jam into words (I'm a lousy music critic), but I'll tell you that it was one of the five best jams I've ever heard - and I've heard a lot of them over the years. Twenty minutes later, they returned to Tweezer, rounded out the song and wrapped it up. All told, it was one of the best concert songs I've heard to date, so much so that getting a tape of Moving Matter's set is a high priority for me. (If you're interested in checking them out yourselves, they'll be at Troubador on Tuesday, March 13th for SXSW. Entry to the show is $5.00 and MM takes the stage around midnight. Count me in.)

After Moving Matter finished up, I raced downstairs to chat with the lead guitarist briefly, asked him about the band's influences and what not, and congratulated them on a great show. Returning upstairs, I pretty much felt like the concert had to have peaked. I wasn't sure Green Lemon could match that kind of jamming that we'd heard over the last forty-five minutes.

And I was thrilled to be dead wrong. Green Lemon more or less rocked out Stubbs for two hours straight with an impressively clean sound. They hit a number of songs from the album I own (including a rockin' version of Whitecap) and had the entire audience dancing about Stubbs gleefully.

Moving back to sports now - MB-TF has a transcript up of Mack's press conference yesterday. I've not yet had a chance to read it, but will soon. I also haven't decided yet whether I'll be attending tomorrow afternoon's spring workouts. I'll pass along notes if I do.

Texas is up 4-2 in the 7th inning of game one of their three game series with Washington State. Nick Peoples has two hits and two runs scored, while James Russell gave Texas give outstanding innings on the mound.

--PB--