Live Review: The Morning Benders w/Twin Sister @ Paradise Rock Club, 11/9/10

A few major factors are going to affect this review. The first being that this show was on my birthday (yay!), so my expectations are always high whenever a band plays on my special little day. I always think, "These guys know that they're playing on my birthday, so they better kick ass." To be fair, the bar was set ridiculously high back in 2008 with the double-bonerific bill of Drive-By Truckers and The Hold Steady - a gig that ended with members of the 'Truckers coming on stage to cover The Band's "Lookout Cleveland," duet on "Chillout Tent," and rock the shit out of "Killer Parties." Obviously I knew the Morning Benders weren't going to bust into "Across The Sea" or anything, but I knew they did a whole album of covers (The Bedroom Covers) and Big Echo is one of the year's better albums.

When walking into the Paradise on Commonwealth Ave, I had remembered that they closed for the month of August to do some renovations, so it'd be nice to see if I would actually notice anything. Well, I did... and that shit ain't right! I'll spare you my displeasure about the renovations, because it's not going to go back to the way it was and we all just have to deal with it. The new setup did affect my overall experience, however, which is unfortunate. My cohorts and I made our way towards the balcony to get a better view only to find that it was chained off, something I never understood. The crowd wasn't sold out, but it was big for a Tuesday night, so I didn't get what the deal was. Ok, enough about that - I could go on for too long.

Twin Sister was the second band of the night. I missed Oberhofer. They're an indie band with a a song called ""o0O0o0O0o." Read about them on another blog. Twin Sister is yet another band from Brooklyn, and they play indie rock like every other band in Williamsburg. They were entertaining, but not knowing anything about them made them sound very generic. The band saved their blog hit "All Around and Away We Go" for last, which was fitting, as it is a good tune (listen to it here).

Headliners the Morning Benders took the stage with singer Chris Chu introducing them and promising the crowd that they would play Big Echo in its entirety. They chose to start things off with the mellow "Wet Cement," which immediately got the crowd singing along with its 'whoa-oh-oh-oh's. They faithfully played Big Echo highlights "Promises," "Cold War" and other tracks until they decided it was time for a cover. I yelled for "Lovefool," but they said they didn't remember it. Ok, so they played Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams," which was equally as excellent...although immediately following the song's conclusion I asked for "King Like Me" - shot in the dark, I know, but why wouldn't they do it? I mean they know it's my birthday! Along with Big Echo they played "Waiting For A War," a great cut from the band's first album Talking Through Tin Cans and saved the crowd-pleasing "Excuses" for last, which had every single person in the club singing along.