Robbers On High Street and Great Northern kick off tour at Local 506

Robbers On High Street and Great Northern have hit the road for a month of shows together that kicked off Tuesday night at Chapel Hill's Local 506.

The Shaky Hands from Portland opened the show. First, singer and guitarist Nick Deiffs gets points for having the guts to wear cutoff jean shorts on stage. The Shaky Hands played a set of clever pop songs with an underlying jam quality to them.

Great Northern took the stage next and played a 40-minute set of dreamy tunes from their album Trading Twilight For Daylight. The band added red lamps to the stage and had fake crows perched atop their gear to help evoke the cinematic mood the band's songs convey. The set was as as grand and vivid as the album. The band was incredibly tight as usual and Solon Bixler and Rachel Stolte's vocals were emotional and intense. Here's the set list.

City of Sleep
Telling Lies (video at bottom)
Just A Dream
A Sun A Sound
Low Is A Height
Home
The Middle
Into the Sun

Robbers On High Street took the stage last and played a 14-song set that excited the small crowd. The band pulled songs from both their albums as well as their EPs. The set included crowd favorites "Married Young" and "Spanish Teeth" as well as some well placed covers. The band played an incredible version of The Kinks' "Dead End Street." The show-stopper came at the end of the set when guitarist and background vocalist Steve Mercado took the lead for Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now."

"This will clear the room," lead singer Benjamin Troken commented before the song. Mercado's stage presence is fairly subdued when he plays guitar, but when he took the lead, he had the swagger of Mick Jagger. At the end of the song, Mercado asked the crowd "Are you still here? Go home." It was a fun ending to a fun night. Here's the set list (it may be a song short).

Kick 'em In the Shins
Married Young
Major Minor
Spanish Teeth (video at bottom)
Crown Victoria
Beneath the Trees
Across You Knee
Dead End Street (The Kinks)
Opal Ann
The Fatalist
Love Underground
Don't Stop Me Now (Queen) (video at bottom)

The only downside to the night was the lazy sound engineering of the club guy. Usually, the sound is pretty good at the 506, but Tuesday night the sound guy was too busy surfing the web to notice that the bands would switch instruments or if their was a bad hiss in the system. The bands overcame and put on a great show, but come on, if you're getting paid to run sound, at least pay attention. That's my rant for today.

(all photos by Kevin Norris)



Robbers On High Street "Spanish Teeth" (clip)


Robbers On High Street "Don't Stop Me Now"


Great Northern "Telling Lies"