Carbon Leaf concert 10/27/2011
Carbon Leaf returned to Dallas night touring with Austin band Alpha Rev. They were touring to promote their 3 disc greatest hits/acoustic concert recording "Live, Acoustic... and in Cinemascope." I had never been to "The Prophet" bar in Deep Ellum. It was a smaller venue than I'd seen them in before as well as a smaller crowd. Also, the Texas Ranger game was on the bar's TV, so the bands were having to compete with World Series action. Oddly enough, some decisive plays occured at the end of songs for both Carbon Leaf and Alpha Rev giving them a weird moment of cheers and applause. At one point, during Alpha Rev's set, there were less than a dozen people paying attention to the band, so the band kind of turned their backs on the room and did an impromptu instrumental jam session. A fan climbed up on stage to exhort the patrons to give the band some love. By the time Alpha Rev started on their most well-known song "New Morning," more people had gathered at the stage, so I have to give them kudos for sticking it out.
There were several suprising moments for me. The opening act wasn't Nic Cowan as billed, but some local with a nice voice and guitar skills named Joseph Veazie. He sang 2 original songs that were competent but not memorable and a faithful cover of Weezer's "Say It Ain't So." There were about a dozen children in the bar with parents. The band acknowledged the 'all ages' event, but didn't really cater to it. Carbon Leaf did 4 or 5 songs on the Curious George 2 soundtrack including all new verses to "Let Your Troubles Roll By." I expected them do the Curious George version of Troubles or even an extended version with both sets of verses, but they just performed their original version with more fluorishes than I'd seen them do before. Their setlist was pretty much their best songs from the last 15 years. I was surprised by the lack of tracks from "Love Loss Hope Repeat" as that album has grown on me almost as much as "Indian Summer."
There were several suprising moments for me. The opening act wasn't Nic Cowan as billed, but some local with a nice voice and guitar skills named Joseph Veazie. He sang 2 original songs that were competent but not memorable and a faithful cover of Weezer's "Say It Ain't So." There were about a dozen children in the bar with parents. The band acknowledged the 'all ages' event, but didn't really cater to it. Carbon Leaf did 4 or 5 songs on the Curious George 2 soundtrack including all new verses to "Let Your Troubles Roll By." I expected them do the Curious George version of Troubles or even an extended version with both sets of verses, but they just performed their original version with more fluorishes than I'd seen them do before. Their setlist was pretty much their best songs from the last 15 years. I was surprised by the lack of tracks from "Love Loss Hope Repeat" as that album has grown on me almost as much as "Indian Summer."