Other Lives @ Off Broadway (5/19/2014)

Opener

Riothorse Royale.  I knew nothing about them before tonight, but I am currently in the process of finding out more after catching the last few songs of their set.  I guess the real band is the two girls - they used the Other Lives' drummer during their set.

Setlist

They played a mix of old and new, though mostly material from the last two albums and a couple songs from the first album.  Which I was fine with, as I like the last two more than the first.

Stage

Nothing fancy, but they had some kinda interesting light things - the big light bulbs up front, and the small lights on poles in the back.  The stage itself seemed a little cramped for the 5 of them with all their instruments.

Observations

This is a band of multi-instrumentalists.  Everyone except the drummer played at least three instruments, and usually more than that.  One of them played each of the following at least once: guitar, violin, keyboard, xylophone (or something like it), and trumpet (plus at least another that I'm forgetting); there were several times at which he actively juggled two instruments - the trumpet was usually one of them.  Another guy did bass, guitar, percussion, harmonica, a weird organ thing, backup vocals, and probably others.  Jesse did lead vocals, guitar, bass for one song, and keyboards.  Needless to say, there was a lot happening on stage.

High/low-lights

This was my second straight show where the lead singer shied away from the falsettos.  Although this put a bit of a damper on a couple of my favorite parts, the backup vocalists definitely hit some high notes - not sure if it was their microphones or if they naturally sing that high.

The band headed to the merchandise table soon after the show and met the fans who were buying things.  Unfortunately, they didn't have any non-white Other Lives t-shirts.  But I got to meet Jesse and talk to him briefly.  I told him that their latest album (Rituals) is my favorite so far of 2015, to which he was very gracious and thankful (as he was with all the fans).  It's too bad that the crowd in St. Louis was so much smaller than they seem to be pulling in other places (not that they're big or anything).  In any case, it was a great show and I wish them all the best.

Rating: 4.6/5