I ventured out tonight to the Hawthorne Theatre my first concert since I moved to PDX. I defiantly needed a night off to just go get lost in the music. Interestingly enough, I first heard of a little band (no so little anymore) called Lights when I was surfing through the “other/indie” music categories on MySpace, which I do from time to time if I am looking for something new, unusual, rising or random.
Lights I
The opening band for lights was Stars of Track & Field, they were pretty good. I liked their stuff but did not have a chance to pick up their album, I guess the chick @ the merch table was back stage or something when I swung by between a few Widmers & Hawthorne ales.
Lights II
I liked the Venue a lot, it was very chill & low key. The price of the tickets were really reasonable & a nice change from the frequently prohibitive price gouging that used to happen back in DC. The Portlanders were nice, amiable & it was a diverse mix of people. The club was split into a over 21 (in the back) / all ages up front. It was a layout I had never seen before, what can I say the joint was interesting overall.
Lights III
I think of all the photos I took Lights III (above is my abso-fav). Lights was a good live show, even if it was their second time coming back through pdx they still rocked it. The band has been touring for the last year & a half, so lights confessed that she was pretty tired but still hyped up to be back in Portland. Guess this was the second to last tour date before getting back home to Toronto.
Lights played everything I wanted to hear plus they covered two great Phil Collins songs, which clearly she loved. Halfway through the show, in between songs a teen / fan from MySpace gave Lights a block of cheese. Of course, she was gracious & accepted the legendary cracker topping with a smile. Apparently there was some kind of social network cheese meme bouncing around the web the past couple months…tasty!!! 
Oh yeah I almost forgot the drummer for Lights rocked!!! Honestly I was expecting a drum machine, but was delightfully surprised by an *ANIMAL* beast wailer.
Lights & Todd
When I got to meet Lights after the show, I simply told her the truth:
“I love your music, it makes me happy when I am really sad.”
She beamed & gave me a really big hug. You know most rock stars…they are normal people like everyone else. Lights has over 11 Million profile views on MySpace for a reason, good stuff, positive, beautiful voice, emotive, original sound. My daughter Immi loves Lights like crazy & always wants us to play the album over & over again.
Todd’s top recommend tracks off of “The Listening” are:
- River
- Lions
- The Last Thing On Your Mind
- Face up
