Merge 25 Night 2: The Clientele, The Rock*A*Teens

All photos by Kevin Norris

As night two of Merge 25 pressed on the recently revived London band The Clientele took the stage as a trio to share their dreamy, reverb-soaked, melancholy pop with the packed Cat's Cradle crowd.

The band stuck to their first three albums for their Merge 25 set, kicking things off with "We Could Walk Together" and the always excellent "Since K Got Over Me." Though the band's music is quite mellow, some of the band's fans are pretty intense. One person in the crowd yelled out between songs, "Make more records." The band sounded as solid as ever as they rolled through their set with seeming ease as if their four-year hiatus had never been.

The Clientele wrapped things up with two songs from their 2003 album The Violet Hour, the title track and "Lamplight." It seems that now would be as good a time as ever for the band to release new music as they sound great and appear to have new life after the their break. Alasdair MacLean also hinted at the possibility of a new album from the band in a recent interview.

Next up came the ragtag band of Georgians The Rock*A*Teens. From the first notes they kicked things up to eleven with their raucous party attitude and infectious melodies. Chris Lopez bounded around the stage like a madman getting right on top of the front row as he lead them in what seemed like almost an exorcism. Even some big audio issues early in the set didn't slow the band down as they pressed on without even seeming to notice that the front of the house completely lost vocals among other things in the mix for a few songs. Unfortunately the amazing "Car and "Driver" was among the songs played during the sound issues but it still actually managed to sound decent right in front of the stage thanks to vocals coming from the monitors.

Other highlights from the set included "Sun's Up," "Little Caesar on a Bicycle," and "If I Wanted To Be Famous (I’d Have Shot Someone)." The band's ferocious energy had the Cradle pumped up and these guys may end up being the Lambchop of this year's festival (if you weren't there in 2009, Lamchop unexpectedly stole the show with their uncharacteristically upbeat set) and they gave the night's headliners Superchunk a run for their money.

The Clientele set list
We Could Walk Together
Since K Got Over Me
(I Can't Seem To) Make You Mine
E.M.P.T.Y.
Joseph Cornell
Reflections After Jane
The Violet Hour
Lamplight

The Rock*A*Teens set list
Never Really Ever Had It
Tuesday’s Just as Bad
Betwixt or Between
Car and Driver
Sun’s Up
Black Ice
I Could've Died
Little Caesar on a Bicycle
If I Wanted To Be Famous (I’d Have Shot Someone)
Don't Destroy This Night