The Orphan, The Poet, a rock band from Dayton performed Saturday night at Kobo Live. It was an early show, with a lot of bands on the docket. True North kicked the night off at 6:30pm, followed by History’s History, Yellowson, Oceanspeak, and The Orphan, The Poet headlined.
Oceanspeak is a local Christian rock group, who were filming a new live music video. Their set-up delayed the show for a bit, but once they started playing, the crowd was pretty excited. Oceanspeak was also selling raffle tickets for an electric guitar, signed by the band. After their set, The Orphan, The Poet took the stage.
The band, made up of David Eselgroth on guitar and lead vocals, Jake Floyd on bass, Jared Snavely on guitar, and Drew Ihle on drums, opened with one of their most energetic tunes. The music was loud and the place was packed. Eselgroth was a good front man, interacting well with the audience and had lots of nice things to say about the crowd, the venue, and the other bands. Floyd played his bass intensely and was lots of fun to watch. The band debuted a new single called “Starlight,” which sounded good.
The set came to a somewhat abrupt end, but the crowd called for more. Eselgroth then revealed that the evening had been a bittersweet one, as it was the last time Jared Snavely would perform with the group. This was news to many fans. Snavely and Eselgroth were the band’s founding members, playing together for more than six years. The band didn’t offer an explanation for the departure.
Snavely’s place in the band will be taken by a new member, named Ty Bush. The band agreed to play one more song after the announcement and a short message of heartfelt gratitude from Snavely, thanking everyone for being there, supporting the bands and himself, and encouraging everyone to continue to support the local music scene. For their final song they played their tune “Invincible.” It’s lyrics were hopeful and appropriate for the occasion. The song was written by Snavely and Eselgroth and the band performed it with a lot of feeling.
I don’t know what’s next for the band with their new line-up, but it’s sure to be interesting. You can find them at www.facebook.com/theorphanthepoet or follow them on twitter at @TOTPband.