The Long Winters Played The Independent

On Thursday night we made our way out to the Independent to catch a fair dose of rock and roll, as delivered by Seattle band The Long Winters. The show was a relatively raucous affair, and the band delivered a set that a had a strong 70's power-pop vibe. The set was confident, well constructed, and well received by the fans.

By all accounts, lead singer John Roderick was sporting quite a different look both physically and stylistically. In his own words, he is going through a "space hippie" phase, which apparently involves him flipping over his amp backwards during the first song. And here we thought hippies were dead.

Despite Roderick's early over-enthusiasm (and repartee involving heroin addicted girlfriends - ick), the Winters pulled it together to deliver an encore-free show of fantastic rock music. The crowd was enthralled, requests were taken, and the band delivered a spot-on show. While we weren't blown away by any one particular moment, we will say that Roderick's got some pipes, and the band has a rock solid barroom appeal that is easily worth the price of admission.

Many more photos available over at the H.A.D. Archive.