Review: The Stills at Lincoln Theatre

Hobbling is not very rock 'n roll. Yet, Dave Hamelin of The Stills made it cool Tuesday night when the Montreal-based group played Lincoln Theatre.

Hamelin, as he tells it, injured his left heel after hopping a fence while "running from the police" in Norfolk, Va. recently. He played and sang perched on a stool, representing three-fifths of the band that was seated including the drummer and keyboard player.

"That's pretty rock and roll," said lead singer Tim Fletcher.

The Stills played to a crowd of about 150 — not too shabby for their first trip to Raleigh on a Wednesday night.

Opening with the first two tracks off their debut album, Logic Will Break Your Heart, before diving into a 90 minute set of material off that album and the more recent Without Feathers.

The Stills, with their 80s tinged alt rock groove, are proof that bands can sound just as good live, if not better, as on their recordings without the assistance of prerecorded loops and backing tracks, something that is all too prevalent lately.

Opening the show were Stratocruiser (from Chapel Hill) and Tiger Thief (formerly Iconic, from Raleigh). While neither left me running for the door, both groups paled in comparison once The Stills took the stage.

The members of Stratocruiser (none of whom played Fenders, for what it's worth), while musically competent, left much to be desired when it came to their formula songwriting. The highlight of their set was a cover of Cheap Trick's "Surrender" (which was even a little sullied when the guitarist paused to awkwardly toss a t-shirt into the crowd near the bridge).

Tiger Thief wins my personal award for Most Improved Band in the Triangle. It had been a while since I'd seen the group, and had I been blindfolded tonight I wouldn't have recognized them. While their newly progressive sound is much more appealing than their formerly bland rock, the band appears to still be mid-transition as their songs were sometimes an awkward mix of punk rock (a la The Clash) and New York Cool (such as The Strokes). I won't write these guys off yet, though. There's definite promise if they could focus their songwriting and cut out some of the shtick.

[all photos by Kevin Norris]