Apollo Sunshine – Live at Andover Olde Town Hall

December 30, 2006 at 11:23 pm | Posted in Concerts, mp3, video | 3 Comments

On Thursday night December 28th, I saw Apollo Sunshine for the fifteenth time. That number far exceeds any other band whose concerts I regularly attend. The reason why I keep coming back for more is the energy and originality this band brings to every one of their performances. I have never left an Apollo Sunshine show disappointed. At the very worst, they were just less great than the others had been, and at the best they have been among the best musical experiences of my life. Thursday’s show definitely fell into the latter category.

I have walked up the windy stairs of the Olde Town Hall, Andover’s premier rock venue, quite a few times; mostly for increasingly disappointing yet traditional and now basically obligatory Piebald Annual Christmas shows. The first time I had seen or heard of Apollo Sunshine was in this hall as they opened for the second Piebald X-Mas bash in 2002. I was just a young lad of 15 at the time, but even my immature pubescent Dashboard Confessional loving self (yes, I admit it) could appreciate the talent for songwriting and live performance the trio possessed. Fifteen performances later and I’m falling in love with the band all over again.

They opened the night with the first song off their self-titled album. The enthusiasm they put into that number set a great tone for the rest of the show. By far, the best moment of the night for me was when they played the song “Conscious Pilot.” This song is hands down my favorite song of all time. There’s not even a ranking for other songs; for me there’s just “Conscious Pilot” then there’s everything else. Also, in the fifteen times I’ve seen them they’ve only played this song 4 times. I was hesitant about including the mp3 of this track here because it’s really best heard in the context of the entire album, but I caved because this song is too good not to be shared. Some other highlights of the night were the song “Ghost” which they haven’t been playing the recent times I have seen them. They played a great version of “Lord” as well, with the breakdown featuring all three members of the band crowding around the drum set and rocking out. Also the first song of the encore “Eyes” was a great treat and the video of that one is posted at the bottom of this review.

Apollo Sunshine has been getting into the habit of ending their shows with the epic song “Phyliss” and no matter how many times they do that I always love it. Members from the opening bands came up on stage and just grabbed whatever instrument was available and ended the night appropriately with an energetic and chaotic jam. I look forward to concert number 16. Check out some pictures and the video of “Eyes” below.

Mp3: Apollo Sunshine – Conscious Pilot (buy)

Mp3: Apollo Sunshine – You and I

Mp3: Apollo Sunshine – Ape Man (Kinks Cover)