Tin Bangs and the beautiful people.

FN's going away bash was indeed much fun. It started out at the Embassy with FN getting hit on by all the hipsters in the joint---ok, I exaggerate, but not much---and ended at Massimo's at 3:30am. In between, the party moved to the Red Room once we realized that our friends were being turned away because the Embassy was at capacity! In the middle of things. MB and I skipped out for an hour and a half to take in Tin Bangs at the Bovine.

Oh my. As I've written here before, the guys of Tin Bangs are fantastic performers. There are some real showmen in that group, folks. As MB pointed out to me excitedly as we walked back to the Red Room, each one has his own look and persona, and it comes across as totally sincere. They aren't posers; they aren't assholes. (In fact, the two guys I've talked to after shows seem genuinely nice.) Just pure rock performance brilliance. Great stuff. The songs are good, but the live shows are better. And the singer/guitarist, Ben, is, well, wow. If he was my thing, I'd be left speechless after seeing him perform. To be clear: the guy is hot. Robbie, the drummer, is incredible to watch. He's all kinds of entertaining. I had a couple more close calls with Ben's and guitarist Bryan's instruments during the set, but survived unscathed.

My only complaint was that the crowd wasn't that into it. MB and I were of course dancing it up at the front; almost no one else was. What the hell. I was disappointed in you, crowd. Ben kept having to ask people to "come closer." I was as close as I could get, and there was lots of room around me. Even an extended version of their last song, featuring Ben climbing over a railing, grabbing a tray full of shots from the edge of the bar, and handing them out to people---all while the band played on---didn't get most people into the show. Being at the front I didn't have to pay the crowd much attention, so I will put its behaviour out of my mind. Whoever is managing Tin Bangs is doing a good job, but the lesson I'd take from last night is: Don't play at the Bovine.

Last night was an EP release for the group; their next EP release---the fourth and final one in a monthly series---is happening at Lee's Palace on 15 December with These Electric Lives, The I Spies, and Songs From a Room. Awesome lineup! I'm so there. So there.

This was my first time at the Bovine. I would totally go back there, though the bands that play there tend to be a bit too hard rock for my tastes.

Back at the Red Room, the assembled FN-lovers from her many social circles were no end of entertainment. Lots of great people came out to wish her off to Berlin in a few days.