Concert Review: Bandit Teeth, Muscle Worship at the Jackpot

There’s often a dearth of the “show must go on” attitude among opening bands when the headliner cancels. In last night’s case, Brooklyn’s Talk Normal and its tour mates, Wet Hair, got stranded in Denver due to a van breakdown and the stage at the Jackpot was given over to local bands.

Considering that it was a Sunday night and Talk Normal isn’t huge or even very well-known by anybody in this town (myself included), the crowd probably would have been just as small had they showed. But the night was far from a total loss for the audience. I’ve noticed that when local bands top the bill, they seem more confident — the pressure gets turned off and everyone seems to have a great time. And naturally, that’s what happened last night.

Though I know basically nothing about Muscle Worship, this relatively new band fucking rules. Someone told me that one of the guys played in Wichita’s Paper Airplanes, but other than that, I know nothing about these people, other than that they are really, really good. Think D.C. post-hardcore, notably the Dismemberment Plan and Q and Not U, and you’ve got a pretty good base for where these guys are coming from.

Singer/guitarist Sean Bergman is an insanely talented guitarist to the point of it becoming frustrating. No one in this town plays with such intricate detail and certainly no one uses as much whammy bar. The music is complex without being too full of itself, which is a hard thing to find these days and super exciting to see happening in Lawrence.