Concert Review- Tilly and the Wall

Tilly and the Wall w/Wild Moccasins and Elaine Greer, Friday, July 18, Houston, TX@ The Engine Room

I had heard about Tilly and the Wall over the past few months, mostly in skimming reviews of their new album. But I didn't expect to be going to one of their concerts until my friend Natalie invited me earlier in the week. Even then, I wasn't sure I wanted to go, but once I told my girlfriend Judy that they had a full-time tap dancer in the band it was decided that we were going to be there. This was my first time at Houston's Engine Room, a mid-sized bar/small-sized concert venue that has apparently seen better days. I gather that a lot of the shows they used to get nowadays end up at other places in town. It's a lone building situated within two square blocks of parking lots just outside of downtown Houston- the neighborhood isn't scary or anything, because there is no neighborhood there.

Doors opened a good 30-40 minutes late for the concert, which gave us plenty of time to survey the rest of the crowd from the line. Apparently the majority of Tilly and the Wall's audience is young female hipsters between high school and sophomore-in-college age. Which isn't to say that was the whole crowd, but there were many, many colorfully dressed, painfully skinny girls in attendance. The show did get going pretty quickly after we got inside, with Elaine Greer and her band playing a short set of catchy pop/rock tunes. Greer has a really strong voice and a solid band, although her drummer looked like somebody's kid brother. It was only afterward that her name rang a bell, and I discovered I'd actually seen her play a few months back, opening for The Fiery Furnaces.

Next up was Wild Moccasins, of which Greer's drummer was also a member. He fit in much better with this band, as they all appeared to be high school kids. Maybe I'm just getting older, but they seemed very, very young. Their songs were pretty decent indie rock, for the most part. But their male singer/guitarist probably needs to drop the "singer" bit. He isn't an awful singer, but the girl whom he splits vocal duties with was much, much better. The set was enjoyable overall, but the Mocs have some things to learn about stage presence. The aforementioned guitarist spent maybe half of the set with his back turned to the audience. And not in some sort of aloof, trying-to-be-cool way, but more in a way that seemed like he didn't realize what he was doing. That's no way to work a crowd, man.

And then it was time for Tilly and the crowd went wild. Well, at least according to the band. More on that in a minute. Tilly as a touring band is currently a 7-piece, with dueling female lead singers (first time I've seen that since punk/ska group The Dance Hall Crashers in the '90s), a keyboard player, guitarist, drummer, and the tap dancer. As soon as the band hit the stage the temperature in The Engine Room started increasing until it became a total sweatbox a few songs into the set. The band put on a very fun show, though, even though I knew exactly 1 song in the set. They had it set up so that the tap dancer could take a break every few songs, which I'm sure she needed up on the stage under the hot lights, even with a little fan blowing at her feet. The band looked like they were having a great time the whole time, though, from the slow songs to the upbeat stompers. The crowd was energetic and appreciative throughout the 45-minute set (with a couple more songs in the encore), and the band seemed to think it was one of the most enthusiastic, awesome audiences they'd ever played for.

That seemed bizarre to me, because I've seen way more excited crowds over my years of attending shows. Heck, Less Than Jake the night before had a pumped-up audience that put the Tilly crowd to shame. So I sort of wonder if the snobby hipster thing applies to the band's audience everywhere they play. If so, that's a shame, because their happy, energetic indie-pop deserves an energetic crowd and not a bunch of too-cool-for-the-room jerks.