Sometimes you just cannot help but love L.A. Yeah, it takes years off your life just breathing the air, and there is enough concrete to drown an ocean, but there are times when it just cannot be denied – the city of angels is a fun place. The Spaceland venue in Silver Lake, playing host to British folk band Noah and the Whale on Monday night, is a perfect example of this.
Each Monday night, the venue, a tiny bar off Silver Lake Boulevard, puts on a free show for residential bands. Last week, Dios (Malos) finished their month of Monday shows, followed this week by October’s local band, Kenan Bell. They brought the house down with a unique fusion of indie and rap. The eight-piece band packed the stage, and acted like they belonged.
But I made the trek to Silver Lake that night for one reason: Noah and the Whale. The U.K. band played one of the tightest sets I’ve ever seen. Noah and the Whale’s dancy sound, and accessible lyrics made for a wonderful live experience, due mostly to their impressive musicianship. The band’s bass player doubled as a box organist, and the fiddler fiddled like nobody’s business. The lead singer was serious in his demeanor, but you could tell he was enjoying himself. Spaceland was the band’s last stop on a three week tour that had taken them throughout the U.S., and their performance Monday night proved the band felt right at home in the States.
The British folk rockers were the second band on the bill, but it felt as if everyone was there to see them. When they played “2 Atoms in a Molecule,” every head crammed in front of the stage was bopping. “Jacosta” was next, and every foot was tapping. By the time they played their most famous, “5 Years Time,” everybody in the club was moving. The lead singer picked up the ukulele for “5 Years” and the song made me think of summer. The catchy whistle that carries the song echoed through Space , as most the audience joined the melody.
Noah and the Whale closed with an old song of theirs, “First Day of Spring.” Its ballad feel and length was somber and sensitive, a perfect closing number. The minute-long build to an explosion of song in the climax was moving and inspiring, and everyone enjoyed it so much, they refused to shut up until Noah and the Whale came back out on stage to play an encore. In all my years of shows, I’d never seen a second act get a swan song. They came back out and played a Smiths cover. They’re cool like that.
Only in a place like L.A., where no one who lives here is from here, can you see a set that so perfectly described its venue. The opening act, Lindi Ortega, was from Ontario, Canada; Noah and the Whale, from the U.K.; the DJ group, Pigeon John, who opened for Kenan Bell, was made up of folks from Nebraska, Indiana, and Nashville, Tenn. All that at a free show in Spaceland. No big deal – it’s just another Monday night in Los Angeles.
