Saturday at Carousel

I lost my notes from Saturday--more on that later--so I'll have to rely on my failing memory. I was really looking forward to this show since The Carousel doesn't actually have a stage so I knew I'd be get really close to the band. What I didn't count on was so many people dancing that the view was fairly well blocked. I was thinking that The Carrots and The Ugly Beats would be an ideal opening/headlining band combo, but I'm going to have to reconsider after seeing Saturday's opener Hacienda. They had a great 60's groove that fit in really well. I wasn't sure at first but as their set progressed I liked them more and more. They had alot of I to relative minor VI stuff going on in their songs, which is to be expected, but it wasn't too excessive to get monotonous. Also a nice slower instrumental cover of Ticket to Ride that went into some original stuff. I stayed up at the bar for their whole set since I was too self conscious, but I would enjoy seeing them again from closer up.

Only a few songs into the Ugly Beats set and I lost my inhibitions and got up to the dance floor. By the end of the night I was dancing full speed. I was able to keep in beat now that I know the songs fairly well. Since I've been playing along on guitar at home I thought I might enjoy watching their fingering and technique to see if I'm playing things the same way, but I gave up pretty quickly because the left-handed guitar player was starting to drive me dyslexic. They jumped up on chairs behind me during "Get Up" and I played like I was watching a tennis match while they trading guitar chords. Maybe they noticed and got a kick out of my silliness. There are a couple of songs that they play at all of their gigs that I really like and aren't on their albums. I wish I had them! After the set I got self conscious again and left pretty quickly, but not before being complemented on my Mifflin St. shirt by some other ex-sconnies. I wish I could find some other people to go see these great bands with!