We Were Promised Jetpacks - Tuesday, April 24th

This past week has included a ton of great live music- four shows at four different Boston-area venues in six days - and I figure there is no better time to start off my live music blog. Let's do this!

Scottish bands are near and dear to my heart, since my beloved Frightened Rabbit hails from there, and FR is essentially the reason my now-husband, Sid, and I met (they also gave us a fantastic setting at which to get engaged). We Were Promised Jetpacks happen to be good chums with the boys in Frightened Rabbit, which is the main reason I checked them out to begin with. Scottish heritage aside, WWPJ certainly stand on their own (eight?) feet as a fantastic band from across the pond.

Sid and I arrived at Paradise Rock Club at around 9:30 last Tuesday, just in time to see the end of opener Breton's set. I wish we'd seen more of their set, since the band is comprised of a drummer, a guitarist, and a couple of people playing electronic things, and lord knows I love me some electronic things. Check 'em out:

We settled on a spot on the left side of the balcony for WWPJ, since our favorite spot on the right side of the balcony was mysteriously closed. While I could see almost all of the members of the band, aside from the drummer, I also had a nice solid view of one of Paradise's infamous poles. I could take the time here to complain about how I really don't like the reconfiguration of the Paradise after their 2009ish renovation, but then I'll really sound like a hipster, so I'll abstain. 

We Were Promised Jetpacks ripped through a good mixture of music from their older album, These Four Walls, and their newer release, In the Pit of the Stomach, which I admittedly do not know very well. One of my favorite moments was their performance of Keeping Warm, a meandering track that starts off nice and calm and builds into an upbeat melody. But really, Sid summed up the entire evening once we stepped outside: "I would pay the price of admission for It's Thunder and It's Lightning alone". I completely agree, and I would almost say that WWPJ suffers from the Curse of the Good Song. They have one song which is completely incredible, particularly live, and for me, I'm not sure that any other song they produce will ever quite live up to the awesomeness of It's Thunder and It's Lightning. Naturally, they finished with this song and did not return for an encore, and I think we were all perfectly ok with that.

I'll leave you with a couple of great pics from the show, taken by Sid, and a performance of It's Thunder and It's Lightning at KEXP a couple of years ago.