House of Blues

Well, I made it to the Railroad Earth show at the House of Blues on friday. It was a good show, the band was definitely in the groove and on the same page as one another. Railroad Earth has a Jam Grassy style and play lots of strings, pipes and flutes. The venue sounded pretty good overall. I bounced around all over between the different levels searching for the best place to capture some film of the show.

 It was a good show, although I felt they had a larger, more commercial following than what they had a year ago at this time. Which is kind of sad in a way to me because when a band's following becomes more commercial it seems the crowd begins to contain more pompous frat-like kids there more to be deranged rather than attending out of the love of the music. So a much more crowded venue than what I remember last year and a more aggressive vibe than I've felt  at a Railroad show before. Its always irritating getting pushed in the back all night whilst you try to enjoy yourself.That being said there were some really great and friendly people there as well.

But I knew what to expect. Especially playing House of Blues in River North where everything is expensive. Which leads to the area normally being full of inconsiderate snobby people. Half of the staff seemed to enjoy their job and the other half were rotten. One staff worker named Joy was complaining to me about the band going over in time and playing until 1:04 A.M.   Whaaaa! "They're supposed to be done at 1:00 A.M," is what she cried to me. I couldn't believe it. Joy was not a Joy to be around and I kept a movin'.
Overall Railroad Earth delivered an A show, but to a C- environment.