The Naked and Famous - UT, Monday Night

I was back at Union Transfer on Monday to see The Naked and Famous.  TNAF is a New Zealand indie band that plays fully clothed and who aren’t really all that famous.  They played about 1.5 hours, and did a decent job.  Heavy on lights and electronica, they really aren’t the typical band that I would go see.  But a buddy wanted to go, and if you don’t go with your friends to see their bands, why would they go with you to see yours?

I would imagine that everyone is familiar with the song Young Blood.  It’s catchy and was all over the place a few years ago.  Here’s the Youtube video – gotta love the skateboarding shots. 

 
But other TNAF songs are also part of your mainstream existence even if you don’t recognize the band.  Listen to All of This, Grow Old or Punching in a Dream and see if you don’t know this group.

The female lead singer, Alisa Xayalith, has a soaring and beautiful voice.  She also plays the keyboards.  They positioned her right up in front on the stage, and whenever she was playing the keys, I kept thinking of that kiddie cartoon Josie and the Pussycats.  It just seemed apropos and funny to me.  Nonetheless, she can really carry the tune.

Lead guitar is done by Thom Powers.  He’s a pretty boy, decent on the six strings, and has a solid voice.  I didn’t take to him, and I’m not sure why.  Younger and better looking, perhaps?  Nah, that can't be it. 

The others in TNAF were all pushed to the background and played electronics, bass and drums.  I’m not interested enough to even look up their names.  But there are plenty of others who are interested – the crowd of young people were really into the band, and there were a lot of guys singing every word that Alisa was belting out.  It was … sweet.

I think I won the AARP award for being the oldest person in the crowd, but this wasn’t a teenie-bopper show.  Think a lot of college students and young millenials and that captures it.  And for a Monday night, there was a good crowd at UT.  All in all, it was fun, better than sitting on my brains at home, and hey, I got to go see live rock in a good venue.  That's always a good day!

Below are some pictures - I was pretty close on the floor as I always fight for my loyal readers to bring them the best in rock 'n roll blogging.  On the picture front, I’ve been trying to edit them to make them better, but sometimes the lighting and effects just make the pictures difficult to work with.  And Apple, for all its innovation during the Steve Jobs years, has crappy cameras on their iPhones.  I’m still envious of the Samsung crowd (well, maybe not the Galaxy 7 just yet, but you know what I mean).  With them sour Apples out of the way, here are the photos:

I hope all is well in your world.  And, yes, I really mean that!  I don’t have any tickets purchased for other shows yet, but I have a bunch of them out there that I’m interested in seeing.  Do the same, ok?  Find a good band, go rock out, and have fun, fun, fun.  I am, among other things, a doctor of jurisprudence, so:  Doctor’s Orders!  And I have some other non-reviews upcoming to entertain you.  That’s a tall order because BRP readers are the most discerning and discriminating of all audiences.  Check back soon for more, and in the meantime, hey ho, let’s go!