With recent rays of sunshine gripping the nation, that means summer is once again on its way, and who better to bring summer closer than Surfer Blood. The Floridians from West Palm Beach brought their grungy-lo-fi tales of summer and youth to warm up the evening.
The Scala is a very intimate venue, that rewards enthusiastic crowds, however at the front of the stage, the crowd is anything but up for the gig. Whether that is the fault of the band or the fault of the crowd is had to see. Having seen Surfer Blood twice before, the crowd were less than enthusiastic, however back then they were playing at a festival and as a support band.
While the album is drenched in reverb, live their songs are not, and in an atmospheric venue, unfortunately their songs fail to match the atmosphere. Opener 'Floating Vibes' however oozes with bass and has members of the crowd starting to liven up, while flamboyant frontman John Paul Pitts begins twirling around the stage, he seems to be the only stage presence and comfortbale live member the band have unfortunately. The rest, including birthday boy (as we're told non-stop by Pitts) guitarist Kevin Williams, who seems to be scared by the crowd, whilst the replacement bassist doesn't seem happy to be there.
However the crowd fail to lift up, especially after 'Take It Easy,' 'Twin Peaks' and 'Catholic Pagans,' though once 'Swim' appears the crowd begin to liven up, suggesting that the majority of the hipster crowd only turned up for this song. Without the reverb, however the song seems to lacking something, but Pitts' shouty voice doesn't fill in.
Overall, it was quite a dissapointing show, especially as I like the Scala as an intimate venue and I liked 'Astro Coast.' Maybe with a new album in tow, things will pick up.
Setlist:
Floating Vibes
Twin Peaks
Harmonix
Take It Easy
Fast Song
Catholic Pagans
Neighbour Riffs
I'm Not Ready
Swim
Encore:
New Song
Fast Jabroni
Anchorage
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