CONCERT REVIEW: The Devlins w/ Exit 159 Kansas City, MO
- Jon Steltenpohl
Braving the experience of a real "cowtown", The Devlins travelled to Kansas City to give a healthy dose of support of their new album, Waiting. While the tiny university towns of Lawrence, KS and Columbia, MO sport progressive music scenes within a stone's throw, Kansas City seems hell bent on ignoring everything but generic stadium concerts. Even the incredible jazz and blues that Kansas City is famous for takes a back seat to bar-b-que joints. The horrors of the KC club scene aside, the music at The Hurricance was unquestionably good. The Devlins' pensive, melodic pop sparkled despite a half filled club of noisy newcomers, and the opening act, refreshingly, didn't suck.
Local band Exit 159 (http://godot.simplenet.com/exit159) wowed the crowd with their opening slot. Band leader Kristie Stremel (formerly of Midwest darlings Frogpond) blazed through an alterna-pop set that was reminiscent of Joan Jett and Chrissie Hynde mixed in with a little Cars. Originals like "Cigarette Kiss" seemed to impress the crowd, and one by one, they actually got off their lame "parked at the bar" asses and danced. A too short set of supercharged originals and a cover of Prince's Little Red Corvette left the crowd hungry for more, but Exit 159 had already run over and couldn't be coaxed back for an encore.
A few minutes later, The Devlins took the stage. A lighted sign with the word "waiting" on it along with a few red "stop" lights provided their entire stage decor. Bassist Peter Devlin and drummer Sean Deavitt were attired in simple jeans and t-shirts, and Colin wore shimmy slacks and red aligator shoes. It was immediately apparent that here was a band with no need for pretty boy pretensions. They opened out with a few acoustic tracks including an immaculate, stripped down version of "Surrender" that featured Peter's chiming satellite tones on guitar. Like the version on their current album Waiting, the song quietly mesmerized the audience.
Or, at least, it mesmerized a good portion of the audience. For every fan of the Devlins who had travelled over hill and dale to get a glimpse at this treasure, there was some half drunk bozo who dropped in while bar-hopping or some Friends wannabe with a free ticket they won on the radio who refused to shut the hell up. Here's this quiet Irish band with probing, inciteful lyrics playing to a bipolar crowd of diehard fans and boistrous drunks. Were it not for the quality of the music and The Devlins' devil-may-care attitude, it might have been a wasted night. A great acoustic version of Prince's "I could Never Take the Place of Your Man" was their answer to Exit 159, and for a while, even the drunk losers took notice.
But for those who cared, the Devlins did deliver. They performed nearly all of the songs off their current album including their current single, "Heaven's Wall", the title track "Waiting", and such excellent cuts as "Where are You Tonight?", "Years Could Go By", "Reckless", "Disappear", and "Kill With Me Tonight". A few tracks such as "I Knew That" and "I Almost Made You Smile" from their first album, Drift, made it in, and throughout the night, a wall of fans could be seen dancing in place with their eyes either closed or fixated on Colin's heavy gaze.
As sex symbols go, Colin wouldn't be your obvious choice. He rarely danced, never showed off, and often looked a little nervous up there. But in a Shelley-esque sort of way, he was captivating. Here was a tragic, underfed poet with a slight grin that switched to a slight wince in a single lyric. Somehow, without a hint of irony, he sang smart lines like "You never should look back, experience has taught us that" from "Reckless". And then, with a toss of his brown, curly hair, he'd gaze back out to the crowd and let you in on a little more of his soul.
When they got around to doing "Heaven's Wall", the song almost seemed out of place. Against a field of disaffected stories of troubled love, here you have a bonafide love song with hope! Colin appeared to break a grin while singing it, but you wouldn't want to swear on it. It's almost like he was a bit embarrassed to sing something that wasn't depressing. I commented to a fan who had driven 4 hours to see them play that, "Well, I guess all of their songs can't be sad", and she said, "They aren't sad, they're beautiful."
And I guess, really, she was right. Despite all of the distractions from the crowd and the misery of being stuck in the midwest, the Devlins put together a show that can truly be described as beautiful. Here was a band that seemed wholly innocent as to what was expected of them as a rock band and of the audience they were faced with. Didn't they know they were playing in Kansas City? Didn't they know they had a bar crowd? Didn't they know they were supposed to break a few guitar strings? Apparently not. The Devlins simply played beautiful, haunting music. They were gracious and unflinching. Even when someone in the midst of conversation shouted out "Fuck you!" during a quiet point in a song, they were undaunted.
Near the end of the show, they did "Surrender" again. Only this time, it was electric and a little louder. Still spellbinding, it was a deja vu moment that seemed a tacit reminder to those captivated by this low key band that they had indeed given in.
As the band left the stage at the end of the set, it became apparent that they must have had some effect on the entire crowd given the strength of the applause that called them back on the stage. They closed out the night as gracious hosts by playing a request of the girl who drove 4 hours to see them, and then faded slowly off the stage as subtly as they came on.
The Devlins are currently on tour through February opening for Paula Cole.
