[ATTENDED: October 8, 2018] Charly Bliss
This was our second and last ever show at the Tower Theater. The last time we had run into all kinds of traffic and it took forever to get there. This time, we decided to go a slightly different route and (although we found free parking) because of traffic it still wound up taking nearly 2 hours to get there. No more.
We walked in just as Charly Bliss was starting their set, so we missed the very first few minutes but I could hear them fine from the balcony area. If you can get lower balcony seats, they are excellent. We had a great view and the sound was terrific. And the lobby was 1000 times less chaotic than downstairs. Again, shame we’ll never go there again.
Charly Bliss hits a sweet musical spot for me–90s alternagrungepop with smart women as lead singers.
They are a relatively new band and they are just full of boundless energy and hooks galore.
Eva Hendricks was a bundle of energy, pogoing between songs, during songs and any other time there was a chance to bop around.
The sound system did really do her that many favors (opening act woes more than her) as the guy behind me said to his group, did you understand a single lyric?
They played ten songs, nearly all of their album Guppy.
The downside of missing the first song is that it is the incredibly catchy and sweet “Westermarck.” The entire album is great, so the set was just highlight after highlight for me.
We found our (terrific) seats [despite the rather lousy pictures] just as they started “Scare U.” They played their new single “Heaven” which was just as good as Guppy, and then followed it with “Gatorade.”
Midway through the set Eva announced that lead guitarist Spencer Fox had to drop off the tour due to personal reasons, so bassist / vocalist Dan Shure took his spot on lead. There aren’t a ton of solos on the record, but the Shure handled them easily. The band’s friend (and video director) Andrew Costa filled in on bass. Hope all is well with Costa. Sam Hendricks, Eva’s older brother, plays drums.
After another new song, they played “Percolator.” the lead off track from the album and another instant classic. I have always enjoyed the delightful lyrics of “DQ”
I’m four years above sixteen
I bounced so high, I peed the trampoline
I’m too sad to be mean
I’m gonna end up working at Dairy Queen
They ended the set with two more great songs from Guppy. The enigmatic “Black Hole” and the crystal clear “Glitter.”
It was a great energetic set. The band was fun and sounded great. I was really glad that they were the opening act.
If I didn’t love Charly Bliss enough, I just learned that they released a song called “Turd” when trump won. Read the terrible inspiration behind it, stream it, and give money to Planned Parenthood.
- Westermarck*
- Scare U*
- Heaven
- Gatorade*
- Ruby*
- [Supermoon?]
- Percolator*
- DQ*
- Black Hole*
- Glitter*
*from Guppy, they did not play Totalizer or Julia from the album.
Leave a Reply