photos by Angie Norman
reviews by Michael Todd | photos by Bridget McQuillan and Angie Norman
Lincoln Calling 2012 opened with a three-show shortie at The Bourbon Theatre on Tuesday night. Local favorite and friend The Great American Desert, Utah's genuinely fist-pump-worthy Desert Noises and Seattle-based purveyors of pop Ivan & Alyosha made up the less than three hours.
It was a comfortable easing in to the more than 120 bands left to play this week from Wednesday through Sunday at nine venues. Read reviews of each act, see our photos as well as Instagram photos from others, hear live audio and search our interactive schedule to make the most of this first day review of Lincoln Calling.
The Great American Desert
Desert Noises
Ivan & Alyosha
#lincolncalling on Instagram
Lincoln Calling schedule
The Great American Desert
photo by Angie Norman
The Great American Desert, or the man many of us know as Max Holmquist, is a difficult act to review. Like many musicians in this state's community of skilled artists, Holmquist is a friend, but what complicates matters of objectivity even more is Holmquist's time living at the HN Hostel, an apt name for the home of our organization's co-founders.
To review Holmquist set-by-set, though, is a practice in examining the small differences in the timbre of his voice, the length or slight vibrato of his guitar notes or the additions such as one played Tuesday night, a song that speaks to the personal devastation of fire that was inspired by listening to NPR while driving through Colorado. Over the course of an eight-song set including standbys "Brother," "White Clay" and ending with "Father's House," Holmquist ushered in Lincoln Calling slowly and thoughtfully, allowing folks to filter in to the Bourbon Theatre.
Yes, we've seen Holmquist before, and since he's limited to just a guitar and his voice, it's the place and an intense examination of his gestures and performance that separate each experience. Tuesday night, he let loose a few powerful wails, contrasted them with hushed vocals in other parts, and all in all, did what he's done before. Here's looking at what new material or different approaches to old songs Holmquist can present at the next concert.
photo by Shelby Wolfe | Daily Nebraskan
Desert Noises
photo by Angie Norman
After Desert Noises' wild, classic-rock-throwback set, I talked with The Betties' Spencer Powell about why so much attention was paid to the guitar solo that, in the form of a dodgeball, could have broken through the Bourbon Theatre wall and injured a stud. Sonically, the band did carve a space for a solo to rest in, but what the crowd caught on to was the rest of the band's reverence for it.
In the live audio from the concert below, Desert Noises proves that they're not just time travelers from America in the 1970s. There's a world music feel to the rhythm, and the vocal melody could just as easily trace its ancestral roots to the '80s. The band enjoys channeling a different era, too, whatever that might be. Their onstage enthusiasm with long hair flailing and slinky dance moves incited frequent clapping mid-song as well as a vigorous fist pump from Good Show Great Show's Dan Kohler. This Provo, Utah, four-piece is welcome back in Nebraska anytime.
photo in player by Shelby Wolfe | Daily Nebraskan
photos by Bridget McQuillan
photo by Angie Norman
Ivan & Alyosha
photo by Bridget McQuillan
Even with the desert heat of the first two bands, when Ivan & Alyosha's four-vocalists-to-a-mic pop music with heart took the stage, the Bourbon still pumped out a cold draft of air. Late on a Tuesday night, the bulk of the crowd came later in The Great American Desert's set or as Desert Noises played, and unfortunately, the festivalgoers began to dwindle a bit as the clock spun farther on in Ivan & Alyosha's set, taking a bit of the warmth with them.
This Seattle outfit was wonderful, though, and a fitting end to a short first night of Lincoln Calling. They're a band that has members who sing the words off-mic as if to say, "I know I'm not supposed to sing right now, but I just can't help it." Their banter is appreciative, perhaps a little too appreciative as lead vocalist and guitarist Tim Wilson once said, "Sir, come up on stage and touch me," or so I think I heard.
Ivan & Alyosha's songs are catchy on first listen, and even the "hard song" Wilson's brother, Pete, wrote didn't take years of music theory to understand its structure. Favorites of festival organizer Jeremy Buckley — who told me just how excited he was that they could make it to Lincoln Calling all the way back on May 17 when he booked them — Ivan & Alyosha are also a touring band that should keep coming back to Nebraska. We'll provide the applause.
photos by Bridget McQuillan
photos by Angie Norman
#lincolncalling on Instagram
photo by angiejnorman
photo by fastorangebuckley |
photo by joe_teplitsky |
photo by angiejnorman |
photo by brittany_urias |
photo by hearnebraska |
photo by fastorangebuckley |
photo by angiejnorman |
photo by hearnebraska |
photo by fastorangebuckley |
LINCOLN CALLING SCHEDULE
Michael Todd is Hear Nebraska's managing editor, Angie Norman is HN's co-founder, and Bridget McQuillan is an HN intern. Together, they make up three-fifteenths of our Lincoln Calling coverage crew. Reach us all through Michael at michaeltodd@hearnebraska.org.