Pete Francis and Barefoot Truth brought the house down last Friday at Revolution Hall. The venue is small and intimate; though the stage is little, it allows the audience to get close to the performers. Here, an interesting assortment of groups performed together. They had their similarities, but for the most part, each group had its own distinct sound. However, for a Friday night, the performance did run a little long.
The opening act was The Stitch, which performed for about an hour. The band was decent, about as good as one you would typically see performing in a coffee house; it was a smaller group, and not terribly impressive. The lead singer was pretty monotonous, and you couldn’t really figure out what he was singing about. But with song titles that remind you of young girls’ novels—like “Promise Love” and “Dream Street”—do you really care?
To their credit, the lead guitarist performed a few impressive guitar riffs during their set, and the crowd seemed to enjoy them. They had a fair number of young female groupies in the audience; I’m sure all their fans were only too happy to meet them in the lobby after the show, as they bought CDs or just chatted.
After The Stitch was done, Low Water came on the stage and performed for another hour. Unfortunately, this was a group I really did not want to watch, and thus spent time trying to figure out how to avoid. The band was a hodgepodge of personalities and musical styles; they lacked a distinct cohesive quality, except the fact that each band member seemed out of place up on the stage. The band members clearly made an effort to dress up a bit, though it was a little misguided. The drummer had on a blazer and vest, with a button-down shirt and tie, but he would have looked more sophisticated if he weren’t also sporting jeans and a handlebar mustache. The lead singer looked like a Chris Martin wannabe, and the back-up guitarist looked like a washed-up lounge singer coming out of rehab.
To even things out, there was a superfluous bassist, who looked the most normal of the group— if normal is characterized by flannel, skinny jeans, and combat boots. He wasn’t wearing a handlebar mustache, though. I guess the ’90s are more current than the 17th century. Overall, it was an interesting combination of personality types. They moved from songs with more country tones to pieces with almost a techno sound, and there was little fluidity in the progression from bayou to nightclub. To their credit, they eventually stopped playing.
Pete Francis and Barefoot Truth were a more eclectic mix of styles. The set opened with songs featuring reggae tones and pieces that had more of a Cajun flare. The music was initially mellow; it made me feel like kicking back on the beach in the sun with a mai tai. There were also songs that had more of a country undertone—mostly because of the very talented harmonica player—which hinted at the versatility of every person on stage. Each of the band members played at least two different instruments, ranging from the tambourine to the guitar to the bongo. There were a few songs that didn’t evoke much emotion from me, but, then again, they did play for two hours. The set was an interesting mix, and the talent of all the different members of the group was evident as they continued to play, giving different members the opportunity to showcase their unique skills. There was a tremendous amount of energy during their performance, and it was infectious—people were dancing down in front of the stage and even up in the balcony.
I’m not going out and buying the albums of anyone that performed on Friday, but as far as a night on the town is considered, Revolution Hall offered a nice evening. After a hectic week as a student, it was nice to take a break from labs and assignments to venture off campus and enjoy the musical talents of Pete Francis and Barefoot Truth—among others. Spending $10 to go out for the evening and be entertained for roughly four hours is a pretty good deal. Tickets were $5 and drinks weren’t very expensive; a Shirley Temple was only $2. I would recommend checking Revolution Hall’s calendar next time you are considering broadening your musical horizons.
