If you haven't yet been to a concert at the Recher Theatre in Towson, this month is probably the best time of the semester to catch a show there, before you get caught up in academics. This is exactly what we decided to do last Tuesday - and we got to see The Submarines and Aimee Mann rock Towson with their vivacious sets.
The opening group, the LA-based The Submarines, made their entrance through the daisies they had used to decorate the stage.
The married couple that comprises the group, Blake Hazard and John Dragonetti, played mostly from their new album Honeysuckle Weeks. The songs were largely shaped around the theme of love (and love sickness, of course). Later on, we found out that the songs were inspired from the couple's own rocky relationship.
The Recher Theatre is a good venue for both the audience and the performers. Even though its stage is rather small, it is not a disadvantage as it allows for interaction between the audience and the band. As Hazard put it early in their performance, she could see the audience well, so she felt that there wasn't any sort of a separation between them. She also pointed out that the unique setup prevented the loneliness she sometimes feels on stage. Her contented state was reflected in her performance on stage.
The set continued in the same playfulness and joy it started with. Most of the electronic work was pre-recorded, but Hazard enchanted the audience by accompanying some parts of the songs with her xylophone.
After a quick break, it was time for the main performer of the night: Aimee Mann. After having heard from Hazard that it was Aimee's birthday the day before, some members of the audience wished Aimee a happy belated birthday as soon as she and her band members appeared on stage.
Starting off with songs from her newest album, "@#%&*! Smilers," Aimee blended her music in smoothly after the performance of The Submarines. The drums were covered with bandanas in order to get the softer beats that are more suitable for Aimee's soothing style. After songs from the album Smilers like "Looking for Nothing," "Freeway" and "Phoenix," she proceeded with her nostalgic and more popular songs. Her most popular song, "Save Me," was fifth on the playlist and had appeared on the soundtrack of the movie Magnolia.
The lyrics "Come on and save me / if you could save me from the ranks of the freaks / who suspect they could never love anyone" reflect the atmosphere of the film about the lives of two men who both try to make contact with their children from whom they were estranged.
A standout song was the one Aimee Mann wrote about the director of the movie Magnolia, Paul Thomas Anderson. She played the emotional "Red Vines" alone on the stage with her eyes closed throughout, immersed in all the sentimentality.
Aimee and her band members were in active communication with the audience throughout the performance. Aimee didn't ignore the song requests shouted out by members of the audience.
Even though it wasn't on their playlist, they included the song "The Other End (of the Telescope)." This song is a good example of Aimee Mann's stimulating lyrics that are filled with symbolism, as can be seen in the verses "the sky was just phosphorus stars hung on strings / and you swore that they'd always be mine / when you can pull them down anytime."
After the song "Deathly," we were "sent home with a kiss" from the band members. Perhaps we weren't actually kissed, but the last song was like a sweet lullaby to end the night.
