I had been waiting on Sleeping at Last's trip back to
Dallas for almost two years. A little background on the band for those unaware:
The band is made up of two brothers Ryan and Chad O'Neal along with Dan Perdue. They got a record deal with Interscope a couple of years back after an encounter with and later help from Billy Corgan. A lot had gone on since I had last seen them. They were dropped from their label that didn't do much to support them, they released a new album, they had a song played in Grey's Anatomy.....all in all lots of good things have seem to have been going on for them. Unfortunately one thing didn't change since the last time they came through. They were booked at a venue that didn't really work out too well. As soon as I saw they were coming to
Dallas, I noticed that they would be competing with screamo courtesy of A Static Lullaby and The Classic Crime on the other side of the wall at an already lackluster venue, The Door. I hoped that they weren't in for an experience like the last time they played the Metroplex. Back in the fall of 2004, they played on a stage setup in the parking lot outside of a
Plano football game. They played their hearts out that night on a stage in a parking lot after a crappy R&B act in front of about 10 people who were there to see them along with the 15 or so that stopped in and out on their way to the game.
The crowd was quite a bit better last night. There weren't a ton of people, but it was a big step up from the parking lot crowd and not bad for a Sunday night. After one really bad opening band and one pretty decent band, Sleeping at Last started setting up their gear. As they set up, there was a steady thud coming from the other side of the wall and a random scream here and there. I don't mind a little bit of screaming, but last night I just felt bad for this amazing but underappreciated band having to play through it. Chad almost looked like he was going to crack up every time he was about to start playing and the other room would start to roar, and every time Ryan reached for his acoustic guitar, he looked a little defeated. To the band's credit, even with the noise from the other room, a bad mix, and Ryan being a little under the weather, they played an amazing set covering a lot of ground from their two most recent albums, Ghosts and Keep No Score. They were really able to hit their stride around the middle of their set in the 15-20 minutes between bands with drums and screams from the other room. It was good to get to see the band perform again, and I hope it isn't another two years before they make it back to town. Hopefully someone will book them in a better venue next time. They deserve much better. Here is the set list from last night stolen from their post about the show on the message board at www.sleepingatlast.com. Also I have posted a few pictures that came out ok from last night at the My Pictures link. In addition to bad soundproofing, the lighting isn't so great at The Door.
1. A Skeleton Of Something More
2. Careful Hands
3. Heaven Breaks
4. Quicksand
5. Say
6. Keep No Score
7. Trees
8. Envelopes
9. Ghosts
10. Currents
11. Dreamlife
12. Needle & Thread
2 comments:
The new album is quite good. I don't know that I like it quite as much as Ghosts at this point, but it has some great moments. Ghosts took a while to really hit me, and the more I listen to Keep No Score, the more I am liking it, so I figure it won't take long to really grab me.
I must say, although "Keep no Score" is good, so far I don't think its quite as good as Ghosts. Maybe I just need to give it some more time.
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