[ATTENDED: June 16, 2018] Connections
A friend of mine on Instagram posted a picture of Purling Hiss who had opened for Kurt Vile in Asbury Park. I was considering going there to see him, but instead I decided to see him at White Eagle Hall in Jersey City.
The person who saw the Asbury show said that Connections was a stellar band to have as an opening act. So I was pretty excited to see them.
But aside from the bassist wearing a Rush shirt, and the lead singer wearing a great shirt with an airbrushed Jigglypuff and the caption #RESIST, Connections didn’t do much for me.
The bassist did not play anything remotely resembling Rush either.
I don’t know if there was something going on with the singer, but he kept waving people to come closer to the stage. Literally all during the show. Even during the final song he was still half-heartedly waving people forward.
I’d swear he was wasted off his ass, but I have no proof of that. At one point he gave the bassist a full body hug (while he was still playing bass). That’s just kind of weird.
They played a dozen or so songs, and the were all fine. This one was kind of a jangly pop song. This one was a bit more rocking.
The guitarist/keyboardist also sang lead on a couple songs. Generally speaking I liked his songs better.
Perhaps it was where I was standing, but I felt like their music was really constrained. Like this song feels like it should be much bigger, not as tinny and tiny as it sounds. 
Especially since on at least one song, the lead guitar was totally wailing.
Overall the band was solid and I enjoyed watching the drummer. I think the lead singer just bugged me too much, because everyone else seemed to be pretty chill.
But their name still makes me think of a singles bar.
I’d have so much rather has seen Purling Hiss.
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