Saturday night I went and saw Vic Chesnutt & Elf Power at the Middle East upstairs in Cambridge. I’ve got a friend who I now call “Indie Dan” that is constantly throwing new bands my direction. After the fourth time he bugged me about going to this show I gave a listen to the 2008 release Dark Developments from this combo and decided to go. Good thing I bought my ticket in advance because these Athens, Georgia indie dudes sold it out day-of-show. In fact the hand-written piece of paper read, “TONIGHT’S SHOW IS SOLD OUT FOR REAL”.

Chesnutt, from his wheelchair which he is bound to after a car accident, had an abrasive but playful interaction with the crowd all night as he explained the meanings behind some of his songs and humorously turned down song requests. Especially comical was his explanation that a song titled Teddy Bear was in his words “About fucking…”. No, it wasn’t about fucking a teddy bear. Three songs into his set, Chesnutt confirmed what I had thought was going on: That they were playing Dark Developments in its entirety. Chesnutt’s low and somewhat raspy voice sounded as good live as it does in the studio.

Here’s some video from a show last year at the Santa Fe Brewing Company:

READ ON for more of DaveO’s review of Vic Chesnutt & Elf Power…

Elf Power proper opened and played a 45-minute set before performing their set with Chesnutt. It was good, it was the typical Athens sound where they’ll put a bunch of fuzz on any instrument (like the front man’s twelve string electric guitar) and really crank it up. It’s a dense sound that makes it a little difficult to make out the lyrics in the songs that they crank quickly out one after the other. Multi-instrumentalist Laura Carter contributed layers of sound from a Moog synthesizer, an accordion and a clarinet though she was only onstage for one third of Elf Power’s set.

Quick Turnaround Alert: I just noticed that Jason Adler already has the show up for download.

Overall, I’d say the performance of the album Dark Developments was worth at least twice the ticket price of 12 dollars and I’d recommend checking out the Elf Power set too… but bring earplugs.

Remaining dates on their US tour:
Jan 26-State College, PA: The Darkhorse Tavern
Jan 27-Pittsburgh, PA: Garfield Artworks
Jan 28-Pontiac, MI: The Pike Room at the Crofoot
Jan 29-Chicago, IL: Empty Bottle
Jan 30-Madison, WI: High Noon Saloon
Jan 31-Minneapolis, MN:400 Bar
Feb 2-Indianapolis, IN: Locals Only
Feb 3-Nashville, TN: Exit / In
Feb 4-Asheville, NC:The Grey Eagle
Feb 5-Columbia, SC: The Art Bar
Feb 6-Charleston, SC: The Pour House
Feb 7-Athens, GA: 40 Watt Club

DaveO

David Onigman is a recent transplant from Boston to San Francisco. In addition to behind the scenes work and the occasional post, DaveO contributes the (almost) weekly Cover Wars column, though he's always looking for guest authors for it.

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