Mighty Purple, Mighty Awesome (and other things that are great!)

10.18.07 at 10:00 PM

On Friday, October 12th, I was fortunate enough to be a part of an amazing night of music down at the Space in CT. I was asked to be one of the openers for Mighty Purple's CD release party. Mighty Purple is Steve Rodgers (the owner of the space) and Jonny Rodgers. They not only have an awesome music venue, but they write incredible songs and give sweet high-fives.

This show was incredible. It started with T3, a set of twins who wrote catchy songs and had super tight harmonies. They were so much fun to listen to and they really got the show off to a great start.

We played next, and the place was packed. I mean. Look at whatever room you're in right now, and the space is only a little bigger, probably. There were about 90 to 100 people at that point. Julia and I played our set, which I thought was really good, even though I forgot the words to the last song. My cousin Matt and his girlfriend Kristen even came down to see us! Wowie!

This band Rolla got up next and played a mean set. It was a guy and girl guitar player and a fiddle player too. The guy and girl both sang, and the dude ripped on the guitar. He was awesome. We bumped into them later at a sweet falafel hut later on in the night, but that's another story.

Next, came the Low Anthem. These guys...shit...these guys were amazing! After watching them, I felt like I had just seen Radiohead's first show before they blew up and got famous. I can't even describe it. Ben and Jeff are the two members of the band, but they played an orchestra's worth of instruments. Each played guitar at some point, and the drums. One played upright bass, the other played harmonica. Both played this organ thing, and someone played this musical drum box. And both sang like angels. We're trying to line up some shows with these guys right now, and I do not feel worthy. Check them out whenever you can. You won't regret it. They are awesome. Low Anthem. Seriously.

Then Mighty Purple took the stage. At that point, there were maybe 150, possibly 200 people in that tiny, cramped Space. It was incredible. Again, I felt like I was watching someone famous. I'd heard Steve Rodgers play solo once before, but it was a long time ago and I couldn't really remember what his stuff sounded like. The two started playing and I was done. I wanted them to play all night. Their harmonies were tight and at times really interesting. Steve's (or Jonny's...I'm not sure who writes) lyrics are great, I mean, great. Leonard Cohen great, sometimes. Jonny plays a mean guitar too, like no one I've heard. Even their stage banter was awesome. Steve actually stopped in the middle of a song to comment on Jonny's guitar playing "Who are you? Are you in my band? You're playing elevator music, Jonny. Jesus. I listen to this while waiting to get a smoothie at the mall." The audience loved it. I loved it. They were so like-able on stage and they sounded so friggin' good. I was sincerely bummed out when they finished playing.

I picked up their CD that night and I haven't stopped listening to it. Mighty Purple is playing with me on October 27th, and I don't know what to do. Maybe I should let them headline. If you can make it,come to the show. You will have your mind blown by a truly great band.

Oh yeah, falafel is amazing. Fact.