Dan Auerbach, Hacienda, And Those Darlins Played Bimbo's - Review, Pictures

Last week, we stopped in at Bimbo's to catch a triple bill of Dan Auerbach, Hacienda, and Those Darlins. It proved to be a true triple bill in every sense of the word. The three bands combined to deliver a night of classic-tinged American rock and roll that definitely did not disappoint. What's more, the bill offered up full-on collaboration, with the bands joining in on each other's sets, and Hacienda playing backup for Auerbach's entire set.

Those Darlins started off the night with a rollicking set of country-rock. The girls were impressive, not only in their songwriting and performance, but also in their technical skill. They swapped instruments throughout the set, and each took her turn in the lead role of the group. What's more, their formidable performance managed to rope in an enthused crowd. They were far more attentive than any audience we've seen in quite a while.

Hacienda quickly followed up with an energetic set that felt like it was straight out of 1970's California. Put differently, it reminded us strongly of Being There era Wilco, minus Tweedy's droll delivery and lyrical wit. While the band wasn't exactly to our taste, we have to admit it was one of the tightest sets we've seen in a long time. Their instrumentation was dead solid, and they delivered their tunes with their hearts on their sleeve.

Given the tightness of Hacienda's playing, it shouldn't have really come as a surprise that the band returned to back Dan Auerbach. Auerbach's set had all the technique of Hacienda's, with the added bonus of Auerbach's blues guitar stylings, and a ton of exquisite lighting to boot. He delivered an unquestionably solid set of tunes from his solo record, but they seemed to lose a bit of their depth in the live environment. At the end of the day, it almost seemed as though the band (and Auerbach's) collective technical aptitude led to the songs being cleaned up and more uniform in their delivery.

As we headed home, the set left us a bit torn: on the one hand, all the bands were incredibly solid, and the show was unquestionably fun. Still, we had been expecting a set that departed a bit more from the Black Keys' material, and focused more on Auerbach's songwriting. Instead, we got a set that leaned strongly upon the players' blues, rock, and country backgrounds. Really, that's not a bad thing, just not necessarily what we expected. The fact of the matter is that if you're looking to catch a fantastic bluesy rock show, this is about as good as you're going to get.

Many more pictures at the HAD Archive

The Raveonettes Are Coming To Bimbo's

Picture from the HAD Archive

The Raveonettes' show at The Independent in March with Be Your Own Pet was a jam-packed affair, so it's no surprise that they'll be ramping up capacity for their next San Francisco event. Apparently still touring for Lust Lust Lust, the band will be playing Bimbo's 365 Club on January 23rd.

Tickets are on-sale now.

CSS Presale On Monday

Picture from the HAD Archive

Brazilian electro-rockers CSS will be playing Bimbo's on December 12th, and there's a presale coming your way on Monday. It's billed as being "Sonic Living exclusive", but if you click here, and use the password "sonicliving", we're pretty sure things should work out for you. Alternatively, Sonic Living is a pretty awesome site, so signing up wouldn't exactly be a bad idea either.

mp3: CSS - Move (YouSendIt, Click through)

She & Him Coming To Bimbo's

After the much-hyped Noise Pop appearance at GAMH, She & Him will be making the rounds to our fair city yet again, with an appearance at Bimbo's 365 Club on Monday, November 3rd. We're guessing that this appearance will see the band in a little bit more confident waters, since last time was their first ever public appearance. Plus, now the album's been out there for awhile, and you can sing along with Zoey to your heart's content. It'll be just like that scene at the end of Elf!

Tickets go on-sale this Thursday at 10 AM.

UPDATE: Special presale action here. Registration required.

Iron And Wine Presale Today At Noon

Iron and Wine will be playing Bimbo's 365 Club on October 5th as a special one-off benefit for Cynthia Noonan. Also on the bill are local act Sholi, who recently got some national recognition from the Believer Music Issue. This should be a great show, and an unusual chance to see Sam Beam in a small venue. Tickets go on sale here at noon. The password is "sonicloving".

Islands Played Bimbo's

Last Monday, Canadian band Islands made their way to Bimbo's 365 Club to make up a date that had been cancelled back in April. The band is currently promoting their latest, Arm's Way, and as such, the set was heavily weighted towards the newer material.

The crowd, while not a sellout, was highly enthusiastic, and packed the front of the room. To say that they were "fans" would be a significant udnerstatement. It seemed that everything the band did (including a good natured butchering one of the encore songs), the crowd went apeshit for, be it good or bad. We're certainly in favor of high levels of enthusiasm, but when it seems to be completely unrelated to what's going on in the room, it can be a bit odd.

We here at H.A.D. dig the new album (and the old, for that matter), and enjoyed the show quite a bit. That being said, the band could learn a thing or two about maybe planning the setlist so that it had a bit more of a clear direction: the song selections seemed to go up and down quite a bit, and at times the back and forth seemed to get repetitive.

That being said, the band is highly technically skilled, and is a killer live combo. It was particularly inspirational to see just how many members are multi-instrumentalists. If you get the chance, Islands is a show not to miss.

More pictures available at the H.A.D. Archive.

Islands Coming To Bimbo's Next Week

Islands is the post-Unicorns project of musician Nick Thorburn. The band has always gotten good press, but we had been hesitant after seeing the Unicorns self destruct on stage at the Middle East in a haze of drunkenness about five years ago. Well, sometimes you have to look past the prior transgressions, and give a band credit for what's going on now, rather than then. This is one of those times.

After hearing continuous good things about the band and its records, we picked up the new Islands disk In Arms Way. We're glad we did: We like it, quite a bit. It has the charm and weirdness of the Unicorns, but executed with more control and more attention to detail. Thorburn's off-kilter vocals are still resident, but the instrumentation is more of its own melodic entity, and less of a rhythmic noise accompaniment. In a word, it seems to have vision that was lacking in the past.

Given this, we were glad to see that the band will be making up a cancelled April date at Bimbo's next Monday. We'll be there. Tickets are still available.

mp3: Islands - Creeper

Raconteurs Pre-Sale @ 10 AM

We promised you we'd keep an eye on it, so here you go: tomorrow morning at 10 AM, the Raconteurs gig @ Bimbos on April 23rd will be having a presale. The password is "consolers" and you can get in on the action here. Enjoy!