XX Merge Night 1 at Cat's Cradle: Oakley Hall and The Clientele

Continuing our coverage of the first night of XX Merge, the third band to play Wednesday night was New York septet Oakley Hall. The group tore through a brief, energetic set of wild pop tunes and were even joined by Nate Walcott of the Mystic Valley Band for ones song. They ended with a cover of Nick Lowe's "I Love My Label," which they dedicated to Merge. How appropriate.

Next up was, as Kelly Crisp put it, the only British band playing XX Merge. That would be The Clientele. After some technical problems which delayed the set, the band mellowly rocked, kicking of the set with a cover of Big Star's "Nightime." As the set progressed, the other nine songs spanned the band's entire catalog and even included a couple of new songs from the band's forthcoming Merge release, Bonfires on the Heath. One of the crowd-pleasers of the set was definitely "Bookshop Casanova" from the group's last album, God Save the Clientele. Check out the complete set list below.

The Clientele set list:
Nightime
Since K Got Over Me
We Could Walk Together
Lamplight
Bonfires on the Heath
My Own Face Inside the Trees
I Hope You Know
Bookshop Casanova
Somebody Changed
The Garden at Night

Check out photos of Oakley Hall and The Clientele below. We'll have more coverage of XX Merge night one a little later today.

[all photos by Kevin Norris]

Oakley Hall








The Clientele