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    CD102.5 Day: First Dose

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    The antidote to the first and second doses are scarce.  Word on the street was that you had to know someone or be some of the lucky few to acquire when the medicine was strangely in full supply days ago, only to run out again.  Saturday’s  CD102.5 Day was sold out. I mean, I’d buy a lot of useless things for only $5, but this is a steal.  Featuring four bands, including a local artist, I would even make a point to stand outside of the LC next week to potentially hear what’s going on inside.

    The Weight of Whales

    Columbus spoke, and picked The Weight of Whales as the first local band to play at this weekend’s musical get-together. Lead singer, Jeff Meyers, Jr., has a voice that reminds me of a diet version of Cold War Kids lead singer, Nathan Willett.  The big sound erupting from Meyers’ body, doesn’t match his skinny frame, but they were a solid band. The most disturbing thing was while Meyers introduced a song written about the death of someone close to him, the drummer took that as the perfect opportunity to take a picture of the crowd. I found them enjoyable, and the perfect fit for the show ahead, but not a band I would go out of my way to see.

    The Virginmarys


    There are so many good things to say about this English 3-piece, who had an American rock band sound. They were one of two bands that really impressed me.  Introduced by CD102.5 DJ’s Rachael Gordon and Krista Kae, the rock outfit began their set with “Bang Bang Bang” and I was hooked.  The band will actually play again on April 12th at The Basement. Will I be there? Fuck yeah.

    Family of the Year


    The best moment of the set occurred prior to the band performing.  As the long-haired bass player prepped for their performance, I saw him look into the crowd and the lights and smile to himself. It was downhill from there. The keyboardist, Christina Schroeter, asked if we liked to party, and received a hefty reply from the audience. I mean, I like to party too, so I was pumped, but not so much by the acoustic guitar that started of the set. Either I was way too distracted by the random ramblings from keyboardist or all of their songs really do sound the same. I officially mentally checked out.  A girl standing behind me mentioned something about the keyboard player being really high. My favorite came ramble from Schroeter was when she asked the audience if they liked to have one or two drinks and just hang out with their friends. Okay. While the song “Hero” stood out lyrically and musically, it’s just wasn’t my cup of tea.

    Little Green Cars


    I admit, I didn’t know a lot about this band, besides the fact that they are from Dublin, Ireland, but  to put it plainly, they were simply fantastic.  Although they basically stood still during the entirety of their set, their skin-tight harmonies and the powerful, controlled, and haunting voice of Faye O’Rourke was again, fantastic.  Tickled by the crowd’s insta-response of I-O from the band’s O-H, would usually make me cringe, but this somehow just added to their charm.  On top of their harmonies made out of perfection, there was a slight Irish undertone to each of their songs, that wasn’t overpowering. This one is a must listen.

    Alt-J


    Just announced to play Lollapalooza and NME’s 2012 “Biggest Breakthrough Album” winner, performed in front of a sold -out crowd at The LC.  While the performance wasn’t flawless, what you hear on the radio, is what you hear live.  I was, like everyone, anxious to see how their authentic “folk-step” sound would translate live, and they delivered. The band threw up their triangle Alt-J sign exactly as if they Jay-Z with his signature Roc-A-Fella diamond hand signal. Introduced by the lovely Lesley James of CD102.5, their set started off in darkness and was then lit up by industrial looking lighting. Lead singer, Joe Newman, swayed from side to side as if in a Rastafarian band. The synth’s sound was fat and seemed to rumble the bottom pit of your stomach with each note.  The crowd, and quite honestly my personal favorites were “Matilda”, “Breezeblocks”, and the song I really need to just delete out of my Spotify from over-playing, “Fitzpleasure”.  It was during this song that there seemed to be a mess up from Newman with the lyrics, but he bounced back pretty quickly. The band played encore of a few songs, and while the audiences of shitty bands quickly go on their way, the venue was still packed.  Supporting their debut album, “An Awesome Wave”, we were all enamored by this band.

    In summation, there were some hits and misses on this round of CD102.5 Day, but luckily, the second dose just may be the antidote to pull us through.

    Photos by Matt Ellis, a freelance photographer who covers bands that visit the city and the Columbus Crew MLS team. More about Matt can be found at Matt Ellis Photography.

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    Briana Henry
    Briana Henryhttps://columbusunderground.com/
    Briana is an intern writer at Columbus Underground who writes concert and live music reviews and previews, local band spotlights, album reviews, and other featurettes related to the local music scene.
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