It was a twangy, rocking good time on Saturday night at the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland Oregon for a night with Fruit Bats and The Parson Red Heads.
The Parson Red Heads took the stage first, the back wall of the staged covered in a cool blue light, the foreground draped in red. Singer/Songwriter Evan Way humbly introduced the band by name before the four-piece even began playing, proceeding to open with a slow building number that evolved into an all-out jam. The floor around the stage, nearly vacant just moments before, began to fill up, the crowd obviously liking what they were hearing. The group’s sense of chemistry was obvious from the start, from the constant shared glances between guitarists, to the fervor with which percussionist Brette Marie Way sent drum rolls flying off of Sam Fowles’ fiery axe-work. When the audience clapped for the band at the end of each of their songs, there was a sense of genuine appreciation and relish that is often withheld from opening acts, and The Parson Red Heads clearly deserved it.
As their set progressed, the band started to change things up, Marie Way introducing a song in an impossibly endearing high voice, still seated behind her drum set. Fowles also took a turn as front-man, delivering a heartfelt rendition of a tune that he had written himself. Feeling the show wrapping up, the foursome went big, and gathered the whole band around one microphone in order to belt out an a capella number that effortlessly recalled Beach Boys’ harmonies. The crowd exploded when they were finished, and the band took the time to set up for one last song, a real americana rock epic, complete with harmonicas and tambourines. It was a boisterous and elating high note, and then the band was gone, thanking everyone and clearing the way for the Fruit Bats.
The headliner didn’t waste any time in arriving on stage. The band took the same approach plaid-wearing, shaggy-haired American Rock, this time giving the sound a Six-instrument treatment. The band launched straight into their song, “You’re Too Weird,” prompting much of the crowd to sing-a-long with the tune’s hyper-catchy chorus. After a few tunes, the Bats took a break to allow band-head Eric D. Johnson to talk about the group’s new LP, Tripper, before barreling into a much more impassioned version of the song, “Heart Like an Orange,” than is available on the record. The Fruit Bats wrapped up their set with an exuberant and extended version of, “The Primitive Man,” the band’s Three guitarists bouncing solos off of one another with wild abandon. Johnson did not wait long to make his return to the stage for an encore, first playing one song all by his lonesome with only an electric guitar as accompaniment, then unveiling a new song with the help of a single bandmate performing back-up vocals. Finally, the rest of the group joined the two of them on stage, thanking the audience one last time before starting into, “The Ruminant Band,” an exciting closer that had almost every foot in the room stomping along, all Six band members taking a bow and slipping away right after.
Fruit Bats photo by David Wala
