Fruit Bats/Amandine - April 24, 2006 @ Drunken Unicorn

I was all prepared to offer some rare Zappa today, but I just got home from Fruit Bats/Amandine and just have to post about the show. It was at Atlanta's Drunken Unicorn, which I'd say has really picked up the pace with regard to quality bookings lately. I walked in shortly after Swedish popsters Amandine hit the stage, and had no expectations. However, I rather enjoyed their country-tinged indie pop and made a point of buying both their album and tour EP during the setbreak. I don't know much about them, but they played as a quintet featuring the standard guitar/drums/bass as well as a violinist and accordian player. I haven't had time to listen through the albums yet, but I found a couple of their tracks linked on their official site.

Amandine - Halo
Amandine - Blood & Marrow

I don't know that these guys have gotten much blog attention just yet, but I imagine it's only a matter of time. It's ridiculous how many good bands are coming out of Sweden these days. Yeesh. I may post about them again in the near future after I've had time for further exploration.

After Amandine's set was that of Fruit Bats, the evening's headliner. It was my first live Fruit Bats experience, and I was pleasantly surprised how well the vocals translated in that setting. The crowd was also appreciative and respectful. As Johnson tells it, that's quite a change from their last visit to Atlanta (some 2-3 years ago) when a handful of disinterested folks were in attendance. The band played an assortment of tracks from their three albums and seemed to be having a really good time in front of a receptive audience.

Personal highlights included "Dragon Ships" from Echolocation and a solo version of "Earthquake of '73." Below are the studio versions of each, along with that of "A Bit of Wind":

Fruit Bats - Dragon Ships
Fruit Bats - Earthquake of '73
Fruit Bats - A Bit of Wind

I snagged the setlist from the stage, but it's very incomplete and out of order. Take a peek.



To top it off, Fruit Bats vocalist/songwriter/guitarist (and fellow Cubs fan) Eric Johnson was very friendly after the show and seemed like a good guy. He signed my copy of Spelled in Bones with a message I fully endorse.



I did tape but haven't yet checked out how it turned out. So I guess that puts me one more set behind. Sigh. I promise I'll get to some of these transfers once the semester ends and I turn in my grades.

Remaining dates on the Fruit Bats/Amandine/Sam Jayne tour:

April 25 Chapel Hill, NC Local 506 18+ Show
April 26 Washington, DC Black Cat (backstage) All Ages
April 28 New York, NY Mercury Lounge 21+ Show
April 29 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell's All Ages
April 30 Cambridge, MA TT The Bear's 18+ Show
May 2 Buffalo, NY Mohawk Place 18+ Show
May 3 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
May 4 Kalamazoo, MI Kraftbrau All Ages
May 5 Newport, KY Southgate House All Ages
May 6 Chicago, IL Open End Gallery All Ages
May 7 Chicago, IL Schuba's 21+ Show