[ATTENDED: May 5, 2023] Pretty Sick
Yves Tumor had been on my list of artists I wanted to see live. So when they announced a show at Franklin Music Hall, I grabbed a ticket pretty quickly. I didn’t think it would sell out. In fact I thought that Franklin Music Hall would be too big a venue for them. I mean, had anyone even heard about them?
Of the two opening bands, I was looking forward more to seeing Pretty Sick, whose recordings are pretty great. Their blending of noise with hooks is really terrific. They allude to all of the best moments of 90s alt-rock. Grungy guitars, squalling feedback sounds and lead singer Sabrina Fuentes recalls Courtney Love’s best vocal moments.
On their latest album she seems to leave it all on the floor with her intensity.
They came out and I expected a wall of noise and feedback. But wow, was their sound tepid. I have to blame the venue, because I think it got better as the set went on, but when they started out, the guitars sounded like they were coming from a teeny amplifier. Fuentes’ voice sounded out of tune with what I was hearing and the whole thing felt so small after Frost Children.
The rest of the crowd seemed to really enjoy them, so maybe I was just wrong about it. But I was so disappointed by the set–it felt really puny for some reason.
I’ve since listened to their records and they sounded even better, so maybe I need to see them again in a diffeent setting.
At the end of the show, the guitar player crumbled up a set list and threw it into the crowd right to the guy in front of me (his girlfriend was a big fan, so that was good for them).
There’s no setlist available for the show, but recent shows indicate these songs were played
- Angel Landing ∇
- Black Tar Ü
- Devil in Me ⇓
- Allen Street ⇓
- Superstar ⇓
- Human Condition Ü
- PCP Ü
- Dumb ⇓
Ü Makes Me Sick Makes Me Smile (2022)
⇓ Come Down (2021)
∇ Deep Divine (2020)
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