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Headphones
The Velvet Room
June 9

“This is the night where the bar doesn’t make any money,” Opening act Crystal Skulls welcomed the very small crowd – small meaning about a dozen people - to The Velvet Room on June 9.

I was excited to see the headliner, Headphones, a Pedro the Lion side project composed of David Bazan and TW Walsh. Only mildly impressed by their only full-length release, I was attracted by the novelty of seeing Headphones on what I figured may be their one and only tour.

The show was short; the two bands combined didn’t play more than an hour. Normally I would feel slighted by shelling out $12 to her a band play eight songs, but I left the Velvet Room feeling very content.

They seemed to have a sense of humor about the small crowd, “We’re going to go on another tour in the Fall if we can open for a band that might draw more of a crowd,” said David Bazan with a smile.

Despite the simplicity of the setup - David sitting behind the keyboard, singing and TW manning the drums – the songs sounded much better live than on the album. Unlike the album, Bazan’s vocals weren’t lost in the mix and when the low-end of the organ kicked in it really filled up the sparsely populated room.

The band played 8 of its 10 album tracks. The highlight was “Gas and Matches,” which shook both my chair and my chest. “Slow Car Crash” was eerie and beautiful and the non-album track “5 Chord” was so good that I gave in and paid 99 cents to buy it from iTunes.

My first exposure to the opening act, The Crystal Skulls, was also positive. They had an interesting Maroon 5-covers-Frank Sinatra vibe. One of the best opening bands I’ve heard in a while.