Walking up Market to the Rickshaw Stop, beer in hand, I was expecting to encounter a small and low-key show. Neon Indian’s debut album was released only a month ago, and the Brooklyn-centric chill wave style (of which I am a huge fan) does not seem to be making a big impact on the San Francisco music scene. With tickets still available at the door according to the web site, I was surprised to see the gigantic crowd huddled outside of the venue. While walking up to will call, I could hear the horde grumpily exclaiming that the show was sold out, giving me reason to enter the show with renewed vigor and anticipation.

The first group to make it in front of the Rickshaws large velvet curtains was SF’s own The Love X Nowhere. I had the opportunity to review their most recent record several months ago, and I unfortunately came to the same conclusions I had about their album after seeing them in the flesh. Overall they are great musicians, but their main flaw in my mind is that they spread themselves too thin with their artistic style. While they opened with a great psychedelic-guitar laced intro, their set wandered between prog-rock, grunge, indie, and even alt-country. It felt like a different band when the two frontmen exchanged lead roles, and the fact that their video background on stage looked like a Windows 95 screen saver didn’t help. Despite this, I was sad to hear them mention that this was a bit of a farewell show for them. I feel that they have real potential if they can solidify their sound and craft some sort of band identity.

LA’s Nite Jewel was on next, and was much more of a compliment to Neon Indian’s synth-heavy melodies. The sold out crowd looked utterly mesmerized several songs into their set, with their haunting and calming drones enveloping the audience’s ears like a comfy electric blanket. Their music almost seemed at odds with the vibrant personality of Romana Gonzalez, who cheerfully declared that she was drunk on Jameson midway through the performance. While they tried to get the audience dancing by turning up the bass on several tracks, I can verily say that their songs are not meant for that type of show. Overall I would give them a thumbs up, I believe they are a good representation of LA’s new underground chill wave community.

Neon Indian came out much harder than I expected for their first ever San Francisco show. While the band is composed of Alan Palomo and Alicia Scardetta, they put forth a full 4-piece group with live drums and guitar. When they opened with “6669″ I immediately noticed that the drums made a big impact, and for the first time of the night the crowd started dancing. Now I love Psychic Chasms, but it never really came off to me as an album that I could move to. This live performance not only got the audience going, but I actually saw crowd surfing for the first time within the confines of the Rickshaw Stop. It also provided me with another example of what I like to call the San Francisco clap (and no, it’s not some regional STD).

At most shows I’ve been to in LA and NY, when a band asks the crowd to clap along they usually do for a minute or so where it eventually tapers off. People in San Francisco actually stick to it and clap along for the entirety of the song, even after the band stops clapping. I saw this for the first time 4 years ago at a Stars concert, where it caused Torquil Campbell to exclaim in a tone of disbelief that it was the first time he had ever experienced that. Well the crowd at the Rickshaw did this for a couple of tracks, and when they closed with “Deadbeat Summer” I thought everyone would be out of energy. I was wrong. Neon Indian came back for two encores, another first at the Rickshaw for me, where a Vega cover devolved into a 20-minute dance party. This band is on their way to the top, check them out if you have a chance!

Filed Under:
San Francisco