Magic Man at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (21 March 2015)

Vinyl Theatre

Milwaukee quartet Vinyl Theatre opened up the show with a very brief 25-min set.  They proudly wear their Death Cab for Cutie/Killers influences on their sleeves, and had no trouble getting the crowd to follow their lead of singing along or jumping up and down.  There were some minor feedback problems midway in, but no one seemed to mind as they were too busy singing along, especially to the set closing, ‘Breaking Up My Bones’.

Electrogram is Vinyl Theatre’s latest release, out now via Fueled By Ramen.  Ironically, the record is not (yet) available on vinyl…

Great Good Fine Ok

In contrast, Brooklyn’s Great Good Fine Ok had a slightly longer 40-min set.  Highlight of their set, was midway into their song ‘By My Side’ as Luke “the Shredmaster” Moellman did his best keytar solo.

Their music is on the more funk/disco-side, thanks to Jon Sandler’s falsetto-singing style and fancy satin-looking gold jacket.   Love or hate it, you can’t ignore that the audience ate it up… even loudly stomping and chanting “One more song!” after the band exited the stage.



After paying dues opening up for Walk the Moon, New Politics, Sir Sly and Panic! At the Disco, Magic Man seemed incredibly eager to finally tour as a headliner.  Talking to fans that had already seen the band multiple times, they suggested that they could play a much bigger venue the next time they come back, and the show being long sold out, attested to that.

X marks the spot

The young and enthusiastic quintet (Alex Caplow- vocals; Sam Vanderhoop Lee-guitars and keyboard; Gabe Goodman- bass; Justine Bowe- keyboards; and Joey Sulkowski-drums) had an equally young and enthusiastic audience, with many waving their X’d out hands in the air, designating them as under-21.



The band’s first major full-length release, Before the Waves (Columbia/DMZ Records) was released last July and their time spent touring and developing a growing fan base, is starting to show dividends.  Their upbeat alt-pop synthrock sound is addictive and ideal for riling up a small club of mostly college students.


‘Waves’ was a well chosen opener to their hour-long set with its chorus, “We’ll forget the past, dear, and learn to live for this”, lyrics which encouraged everyone in the crowd to live in the moment.



Bowe’s anchoring keyboard riffs often sounded like something taken out of the early 80’s, while Caplow moved from side to side, jumping about and reaching out to the crowd, and Lee’s guitars and keyboard work were relaxed, yet surgically precise.



The band must like immortalizing locations, as they have many named after actual places, starting this night with ‘Nova Scotia’ from their 2013 EP, You are Here. ‘Catherine’ turned into an audience sing-a-long, which was followed by the slow-tempo’d ‘Honey’, then a new song, rumored to be called ‘Waiting for the Sun’.

Setlist

For ‘Texas’, Caplow encouraged everyone to “make some thunder” for the song’s intro, by stomping on the venue’s floor, which all happily did.  The beginning of the encore surprised many, as the band returned storming on with a pitch-perfect cover of Jimmy Eat World’s ‘The Middle’ and ended with their biggest single to date, ‘Paris’ and the crowd singing the chorus back to the band.



The “magic” is definitely there for the group and expect them to again headline next time through, but no doubt at a larger venue, as they seem poised for even bigger success.  They’re “magic, man.”