Live Review: Voxtrot w/Irving@Empty Bottle 4/15/06

After opening sets by two bands that sadly I didn’t really pay much attention to, five nicely dressed men walked on stage. Who were these men? Well, they were Irving! A band that I have been looking forward to seeing after listening to their new album, Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers, nonstop throughout the previous week. They kicked it off with "Situation," a song that makes me wish that I still had a car…it’s one of those perfect spring time cruise songs. They sadly didn’t play too long, reaching into a few songs off their new album, an older tune, and what I believed they said was a newer song. Their set sounded amazing and hopefully they will come back to the area to play a longer set. After hearing all the Voxtrot hype, it was finally my time to check them out. Usually “hype” bands tend to disappoint me live, but their set managed to rock me…rock me so hard that it took me almost a week to write about it. The band’s sound was tight throughout the night as they played their danceable indie pop songs. The band was refreshing to see live as they authentically looked to be having a fun time, especially with singer/guitarist Ramesh Srivastava dancing all over the stage as he sung and played his guitar (sadly showing more energy than the audience…but hey it was the Empty Bottle). Voxtrot squeezed their songs from the two EPs, plus a couple that didn’t catch my ear as being familiar, into an hour long set. I am proud to say I walked away from the show with a smile on my face, and it wasn’t just from all the Old Styles and bourbon that managed to enter my mouth. I came in only know a handful of Voxtrot songs, but walked away a huge fan. I totally recommend to anyone to get anything they can from both bands and check them out live. -Brian Johnston