Rustic NYE
Port City Music Hall
December 31, 2010
Portland, ME
(Check out a video of Rustic Overtone's Combustible in the video section below. And, be sure to check out the upcomign Rustic Overtones live show calendar to the right in the sidebar.)
When I was younger, New Year's Eve was a big holiday- a night that you celebrate as best you can by seeing the coolest concert you could find, no matter where it was on the continent. 1990 and 1991 I went to the Oakland Coliseum and saw The Dead with Branford Marsalis the first year, then the Dead with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (featuring Kevin Eubanks) the second year. 1993 I ventured to Worcester MA and saw Phish at the Centrum. The year in between? I was super bummed, went to some parties, and vowed that I would find a great concert the next year to attend. The years that followed saw me playing in my own band on some New Year's eves, running other shows, and eventually settling into family life. Live shows were harder to make to on this night of nights.
But this year, with Grandma saying that she would watch the kids, and a myriad of shows from which to choose- we knew we could have a great night. Adam Ezra and the Assembly of Dust in Keene? Girls Guns and Glory in Lincoln NH? Love in Stockholm in Boston? Garaj Mahal in western Canada? Ekoostik Hookah and Freekbass and Tobotius in Ohio? No, this year I needed a different choice. We decided to venture to Portland Maine for the first time really, and catch Rustic Overtones in front of their home town crowd at the Port City Music Hall.
We went up that day and checked into the Howard Johnson's. Travel hint- just because the name of the hotel includes the word plaza, doesn't make THE Plaza. We met up with a bunch of friends, ate some dinner, and all six of us piled into Sue's Subaru and drove downtown. We got there plenty early and got to scope out the room. I'd never been ot the 600 capacity Port City Music Hall. In the two years since it was opened, PCMH has become the quality room in Portland Maine with great shows rolling through there. It's clear they took great care in making the facility- it was clean, the sight lines are excellent, the production sounded good, and there was plenty of room to groove, mingle, or even venture downstairs to the pool table bar room.
The crowd had turned out even for the support band, Gypsy Tailwind. The room was full, but not packed. The whose who of Portland seems to have turned out, with lots of fit, attractive, and smartly dressed folks in the room. This really was starting to feel like The place to be that night. Gypsy Tailwind started late, and played a nice set of mellow Americana. The band is fronted by both a male and female lead singer, and is a fully fleshed out Amerciana band, with guitars, bass, and Rustic Overtones drummer Tony sitting in on drums that night. The band was good and tight, just not very energetic. When they get rolling, it's more of a seething boil than it is a jump up and down level of excitement. They were good, just not meeting up to the energy level I was seeking that night.
We wandered the venue a bit, took in some of the night air outside, took a stroll for a safety break, and then settled in when Rustic was getting ready to hit the stage. About 11:45 they arose, and filled the room with sound instantly. The band was starting a slow fire, the sound rising and filling the space. The familiar strains of In the Flesh, the first cut off of The Wall, by Pink Floyd, was a completely unexpected opener. Lead singer Dave Gutter combined a sneer and a bellow as he uttered the opening lines "So ya, thought ya, might like to... Go To the Show." And that was pretty much it for that song, as they fired into several Rustic Overtones cuts. The energy level was high, and the band was stoking the fire created by their home town crowd. People were jumping up and down, not in a mosh pit fashion, just in a completely elated, we're witnessing the rapture type of excitement.
There was plenty to see throughout the show, with cool visuals being supplied on a screen behind the band. At some point Dave Gutter threw a five foot tall inflatable penis into the audience, which got whiped around the floor, and would occasionally knock you in the head sideways. And the crowd was perfect for people watching, people dressed in their finest, partying as hard as they could, and having a great time.
For those not familiar with Rustic Overtones, the band was easily the most popular Portland Maine band some ten years ago, on the brink of major label success with an amazing album featuring A list rock stars who guest appeared. Through the new millennial consolidation of the record industry, somehow their album got lost, and through a hiatus and eventual regrouping, here they are playing shows around New England and jump starting their fanbase. Their sound? With a full horn section and alternative leanings, it would be easy to lump them in with late 90s bands even though they had neither the ska nor swing sound that those bands had (Squirrel Nut Zippers, Daddies, No Doubt, etc..) Instead, each of the horn players also doubles on keyboards, seeming everyone in the band has keyboard access, and the emotional and personal delivery of vocalist Dave Gutter brings about a more thoughtful sound while keeping to the high energy of the music. The last five years has seen Rustic migrate more toward the sounds of say Coldplay or Keene or even the Killers, which compared to other horn bands is sometimes difficult to comprehend. The resultant music is amazing, and Rustic Overtones is easily one of my favorite "under-discovered" bands in the country.
At about 11:56 the band was debating what to do- another song, or kill time toward the countdown. Some sort of groupthink took over, and the band was playing one of their most energetic tune, Combustible. The crowd was going bonkers, and about midway through the song, Tony the drummer interrupted saying- It's almost New Year's. A bit of on stage confusion was palpable, and Gutter asked the audience if anyone had the countdown- a cell phone was picked up and you could hear Gutter say "When? Now? Now! 5 4 321- Combustible, Combustible" and the band was back into the tune, with more energy and the crowd at a frenzy. The idea crossed my mind that the chaos and confusion may have been set up, but it was so natural and organic that I don't think it could have been. This was the climactic peak, as supplied by the band, that I associate with New Year's. Absolute excitement, complete connection between audience and band, emotional ascension, and musical resolution. All grilled up perfectly by Rustic Overtones.
The rest of the set was more of a blur. The band had certainly climaxed already, but they kept the ball rolling with songs off of their last several 
albums. The set peaked with an oldie, Gas on Skin. It was about 12:50 at that point, and it really felt like the end of the show. But the band was back on stage and called up Gypsy Tailwind's singer, Anna Lumbar, to provide vocals for the final tune. Gutter said that the song was called the Stranger, made some weird references to solo sexual acts, and then out seeped the song. It was a long and purposeful song, and supplied that same sort of seething energy that I recognized from Gypsy Tailwind's set, and signified the end of the show. The crowd was already moving to other parts of town, seeking out after parties and more hipster things to do. We spent another 20-30 minutes in the club winding down, listening to the DJ do some spinning after 1 AM, and eventually wandered back to our cars.
It was great to finally see Rustic Overtones in front of their home town crowd, as I had seen them a few times, but always in strange situations, during a blizzard, in a town where they weren't as popular as they are in Portland or Boston. The band was in terrific form and the show was just the New Year's Eve cocktail after years of celebratory sobriety.
(Check out a video of Rustic Overtone's Combustible in the video section below. And, be sure to check out the upcomign Rustic Overtones live show calendar to the right in the sidebar.)
LMNR -
Sat, Jan 15, 2011, 4:38 P
Rustic Overtones, Combustible video Rustic Overtones
Combustible
Directed by Kurt St. Thomas and Mike Gioscia
Check out the review of the Rustic Overtones New Year's Eve show here:
http://www.livemusicnewsandreview.com/Rustic_NYE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saxtqlhkpvo
