Music that makes you want to shake it
For rockers Langhorne Slim and Deer Tick, The Orange Peel in Asheville was the first stop in a five date tour in which the bands paired up for dual appearances.
The Districts, a high octane foursome from Pennsylvania, opened the show with the whiplashing, full throttle hit, “Rocking Chair.” In the midst of the band’s antics, which looked a little like a group shadow-fight, The Districts sang, “It’s a long way down from the top to the bottom,” lyrics which aptly backed the important charge of warming up the crowd for two crowd pleasers. The performance was brave and boisterous.
Following The Districts, Langhorne Slim prefaced his hour long set by advising the crowd that, “if it feels good to shake, shake it baby.” He played a few newer songs like the caustic “Whispering” with lyrics that felt intimate, unstructured, and a little bit confessional. The more familiar numbers, “Hello Sunshine,” “Fire,” and “Past Lives” sounded fresh and authentic – as they always do when he and his band The Law, bring them to life on stage. Langhorne Slim is sweaty, bold and unashamed, and in that his music and delivery are pure and innocent. He has something in him that has to get out, just like his songs say, (“bad luck,” “wild soul”) and he brings listeners along on the journey.
Co-headlining the show, Deer Tick’s contagious mystique was evident during its performance. Eager fans shouted titles like, “MANGE!” as if hoping to catch what the band has already got. The quintet started its set with polished and layered songs that paced its music apart from the raw freedom of the first two performers. Singer John McCauley sprayed his words and his drink (literally) into the air like, in classic like it or leave it form. The crowd obviously liked it, jumping along with the tumbling brass and banging guitar of songs like, “Let’s All Go to the Bar” and chanting its repetitive and slightly dark mantra. A dichotomy of celebration and indignation, Deer Tick balanced bitter and brash numbers with bouncy and almost cheery hits, closing a multisong encore with a raging cover of “La Bamba.”
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