Ian And Amy Rock Scranton, The Dilettante Attends

The Evens, Northeast Theatre, Scranton PA 6/10

I drove up to Scranton with a buddy of mine last night to see The Evens, the current project from guitarist/punk rock demigod Ian MacKaye. As is MacKaye's wont, tickets were only five bucks, and the band went on at 8:30, which made the two-hour drive worth it since I was only out $5 and I was home by midnight. That last thing is especially important for an aging rocker like myself.

They were playing at the Northeast Theatre, which is on the second floor of the old Hotel Jermyn in downtown Scranton. What was once the ballroom is now a black box theatre, with an open floor and seats on three sides.

About 150 people attended the show, with the band (just Ian and drummer Amy Farina) set up in the corner of the room, a bunch of people sitting on the floor in front, and the rest of us whose knees cannot handle the floor sitting in chairs:



Ian seems very much interested in doing live music his way instead ofthe way everyone else does it. As I mentioned, the shows cost only $5 to get in. This entire tour is being booked into alternative spaces (art galleries, theatres, etc.), and I'm pretty sure shows must be all-ages too. Ian was very engaged (and engaging) with the crowd, talking directly to many of the people and mentioning how he had asked for the lights to be evenly distributed between the band and the audience so everyone could see everyone and share in the musical experience:



The music was very good -- Ian plays baritone guitar and though it is nowhere near as loud & fast as Fugazi, it is still just as angry. It was interesting to me that he wasn't necessarily angry about the current regime (though he did refer to the Iraq war a couple of times), but more angry at the concept of the Federal government in general, and specifically what it does to his hometown of Washington, DC. He did the whole show sitting down, but still managed to rock out throughout the show:



It was the first show of the tour and I think they were a little sloppy as a result. Having people sitting on the floor created a nice vibe but it brought down the energy in the room and that seemed to frustrate Ian a bit -- there were people lying down by the end of the show, and I'm sure they were comfy, but I don't think it was the best setup for Ian's message. There were only maybe 4 or 5 of us who were even bobbing our heads to the music and Ian commented at one point about the number of people he saw sitting with their arms crossed.

Overall the band sounded a lot like they do on the records. Ian and Amy's voices work very well together. Amy's voice reminds me an awful lot of Corin Tucker's -- piercing, not particularly melodic, but perfectly suited for these types of songs. They may be coming to your town (if your town is in Eastern Canada, northern New England, or upstate New York) and if they are, go see them. You'll get 90 minutes of excellent rock and you'll be subverting the dominant paradigm. What's more punk rock than that?