Bright Light Social Hour visited Athens, GA for a short but very sweet set at The Foundry on Friday night. On an extensive tour promoting their newest album, “Space Is Still the Place,” Bright Light cosmic-rocked the house and exited the stage with a rousing plead for one more song from the crowd.
The Austin, TX band revealed their Southern roots on stage, mostly in their collective ability to stray away from the rambling jam-band style that we so often see in Athens bands. Rather, the reverby vocals and use of grooving synthesizers, along with the mass amount of hair across the stage, illustrate their main influence: psychedelia. But there is evidence of funk and crooked pop in the mix, which takes this potentially hypnotic music to an electric level. The crowd was dancing from the moment they played their first note.
Although the band brought as much energy as ever to the eager Athens crowd, their dialogue throughout the set suggested they might be a bit more weary than they let on. This is understandable, as they had many valuables stolen from their dressing room in Orlando the night before, including a hand built guitar and several laptops. When asked about it after the show, however, they were in good spirits, shrugging their shoulders in a “shit happens” gesture.
Songs on their new album “Sweet Madelene” and “Sea of the Edge” were big hits among the crowd, proving that their new album should be on your radar. If you have a chance to catch these guys in action, I would take it. Before long, there will be huge crowds pouring in to watch Bright Light Social Hour’s landing as this band continues to prove their unyielding place in rock’s stratosphere.
The Bright Light Social Hour
Tour Dates 2015
Oct 25 The Mothlight Asheville, NC
Oct 27 Rock and Roll Hotel Washington, DC
Oct 28 Underground Arts Philadelphia, PA
Oct 29 Great Scott Allston, MA
Oct 30 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY
Oct 31 Higher Ground Lounge South Burlington, VT
Nov 01 L’Anti Quebec City, Canada
Nov 02 Divan Orange Montreal, Canada
Nov 04 Mavericks Ottawa, Canada
Nov 06 The Historic Red Dog Tavern Peterborough, Canada
Nov 07 The Mansion Kingston, Canada
Nov 08 Casbah Hamilton, Canada
Nov 10 Virgin Mobile Mod Club Toronto, Canada
Nov 11 London Music Hall London, Canada
Nov 12 Blind Pig Ann Arbor, MI
Nov 13 Lincoln Hall Chicago, IL
Nov 14 The Frequency Madison, WI
Nov 15 The Mill Iowa City, IA
Nov 17 Rose Music Hall Columbia, MO
Nov 18 Riot Room Kansas City, MO
Nov 28 Numbers Houston, TX
Dec 04 The Parish Austin, TX
Dec 05 The Parish Austin, TX
Margot is currently a rising senior at the University of Georgia in Athens where she is pursuing a degree in English, and eventually hopes to work as a writer in business or journalism. As you can probably guess due to her major, Margot loves to read all the books she can get her hands on. She enjoys enthusiastically discussing with anyone who will listen (usually just her dog) about her love/writer's envy for Hemingway, Vonnegut, and Orwell. **CAUTION: wine makes this worse. She also enjoys scouring record shops to find all her favorite oldies band’s records, with “Eat A Peach” by the Allman Brothers and Paul Simon’s self-titled album being her most triumphant finds. Although her favorite bands are mostly disbanded or too old to play, she still enjoys seeing the live shows of contemporary bands and Athens is definitely the place to be for that.