| Print |

Written by Jeff York Monday, 28 August 2006 04:19

Gathered in a circle, they put their hands together in the middle (I was half-expecting a "Goooooooo, team!"), shook hands, and backed away from each other as singer/guitarist Peter Arcuni quietly began playing.

w/The Talk
Off Broadway, St. Louis

Apparently, being a blog darling doesn't get you very far in St. Louis, or much of a crowd on a stifling Tuesday evening. Northern Calif.—based Birdmonster learned this the hard way at their sparsely populated recent St. Louis appearance: There were no more than 25 people in the crowd, including staff and the opening band.

An even smaller crowd was in evidence for a stellar set by said openers the Talk, who played with an energy reminiscent of the Clash, the Replacements, and even the Walkmen (the Talk's Justin William's delivery is often similar to the Walkmen's Hamilton Leithauser's yelp). Mid-set, while the band paused for an extensive tune-up, bassist C.R. Rollyson noted that, in fact, "This is awkward." To keep things moving, Williams introduced the band and then had the members of the audience introduce themselves. Williams added, "Now everyone knows each other, so it's not quite as awkward," and the band continued their solid set.

Birdmonster was up next. The band took the stage, tuned up, and met at the drum set in the middle of the stage. Gathered in a circle, they put their hands together in the middle (I was half-expecting a "Goooooooo, team!"), shook hands, and backed away from each other as singer/guitarist Peter Arcuni quietly began playing. The volume and tempo started to increase as bassist Justin Tenuto stomped his foot in rhythm. The crescendo slowly built until the band was confidently in the Rock Zone^TM. As Arcuni asked the crowd to come closer to the stage to make it feel more intimate, everyone realized this show was going to be a collaborative effort. One by one, the crowd obliged and the band returned the favor in kind.

The band tore through its set with abandon and intensity, playing for 25 people as if they were 2500, and you couldn't help but get caught up in the energetic performance. With a confident stage presence able to engage the smallest of crowds, at one point Williams joked that the riled-up crowd did "a lot of heckling for being so small."

After the band had finished their "official" set—with the house music turned up and the band already unplugging their gear—the enthusiastic crowd wasn't ready to end the night just yet. It felt almost like a house show—intimate, hot, and sweaty—as Birdmonster plugged back in and played two more songs, leaving 25 extremely happy people.