Been There, Done That, Bought the T-shirt

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Athlete at the World Cafe Live in Philly. The venerable ST went down to the show with me. Getting there we ran into the usual traffic on the Skuykill Expressway. Although this could have presented a problem due to us needing to get to a show, we had left plenty of time. As when going to a new place in a city, the primary concerns are to not get lost and what parking is going to cost. Well, the World Cafe website gave very good instructions on how to find the locale and free parking. So without any trouble, we found the venue and then the first lot that we looked to park in had open spots.

After eating a good sandwich at a little cafe, we entered the show. The venue is very intimate and it has good sight lines, yet as ST pointed out, it is big enough to still sound good. The show started at 7:30 and had two opening acts. The first act was The Working Title. They were a pleasant surprise and had a solid sound. They played for about 40 minutes.

The next act was Rob Dickinson. He was okay. Some decent stuff and some sad stuff. Lyrically he was very weak and poor. I was amazed that a guy that can't really write was performing. His songs went on and on and repeated many phrases. I got drilled into my head that 'the skin was black metallic'. I'm still not sure what that means. Oh well after an encore(very strange for a opening act. I think he planned it into his time to feel good about himself), it was finally time.

Athlete came on and started off calmly, but kicked in pretty well. They interacted with the crowd very well. It's interesting when a band that plays in front of thousands in Britain comes over to the States and plays in front of a couple hundred. They had fun though which is what bands need to do when in front of small crowds. Their sound was solid. They weren't a band that was just a studio band. Two of the biggest songs of the night that had everybody singing were 'Halflight' and 'Wires'. They were tight and sounded very good. I greatly enjoyed them especially since they are one of my favorite bands right now. I will see them again if I get the chance.