ALBERTA CROSS: ENCHANTING AND HOPEFUL
Last Saturday night at the underrated Club Lambi in Montreal, the American band Alberta Cross showed us how to have a great gig in a small club without riding under the “indie” banner which is used for any non commercial band in the 21th century.
They came to present their new release and second album called “Songs of Patience” available since July.
Folks, if you’re a fan of My Morning Jacket and Wilco, this band is for you.
Just good guitar riffs, distortion pedals and some blues-folk shades to persuad you.
In a front of an audience of less than 75 people, they didn’t disappoint from the beginning to end with 12 songs in 70 minutes. We were surprised by the singer Petter Ericson Stakke (Swedish) who was dressed like Bono back in the eighties during the Joshua Tree tour. Somehow, he could be the twin brother of Interpol’s singer Paul Banks! Comparisons aside, they showed us why they opened for the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures and solo artist Ben Harper.
The band is an official duo (Petter with Terry Wolfers on the bass), but they are five on a stage with three additional members on tour. They opened with a recent song from their new album called “Crate of Gold”. It’s totally worth it. From that first song we already had a feeling that it would be a good night with a lot of guitars and amps on stage. The mid-tempo “Magnolia” was played right after (second or third) and it charmed the entire place, this is a nice calm one and could be a single in the near future.
We surely noticed that the singer has a great sounding voice and that will help for a long career, there was no shouting, just singing. On guitars, Petter busted a B string during the fourth song and never paid attention to it. The intensity was there and the show must go on ! On keyboards (Alec Higgins) did a real good job on backing vocals as well. On the lead guitar, it’s Ohio’s own Aaron Lee Tasjan who remind us of a younger Nels Cline (Wilco) with side projects.
Aaron opened as the first of the two opening acts which I wasn’t able to see. He is very comfortable with his guitar playing.
Among the songs were played : “Wasteland”, “Money for The Weekend” and “The Devil’s All You Ever Had”. They closed the main set with the single “ATX” which is a crowd favorite based on the reaction of the crowd. They came back on stage for an encore of two songs. The perfect song-ending was the bluesy “Old man Chicago” left us with a great impression and understanding of the band.
Check out that name because they are really on the right track for the road of success. There a lot of bands in this industry but the given quality by Alberta Cross as a live act must be considered. They will make it, just matter of time.
http://www.albertacross.net/
http://www.facebook.com/albertacross
Photo by Brantley Gutierrez
Category: Reviews