DFW Area Hosts A Slew Of April Concerts Led By At The Drive-In, Spoon

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Last week felt like an exclamation point.

It started Monday, when seminal El Paso emocore act At The Drive-In announced a show at the 600-capacity Trees about a half hour before tickets went on sale. The concert, the band's second in a decade, sold out in three minutes.

Then it continued Tuesday: While those microphone-swinging emo pioneers wailed on their instruments at Trees, glistening poppers Real Estate's summery melodies filled Club Dada half a block away.

Meanwhile, in Denton, local promoters Gutterth Productions booked a visceral set of harsh, exciting noise rock and metal headlined by Austin-by-way-of-Chicago Lechuguillas and Dentonites Terminator 2.

The next night saw classic rock revivalists The Hold Steady play their second show in five months upon the cozy stage at the Loft. And then on Thursday, the Granada did its best impression of a sardine can during a rare sold-out evening with beloved Austinites Spoon.

Busy, huh?

It was another chance to celebrate the vitality and depth of music, local and otherwise, in the Dallas–Fort Worth Area. It was one of those weeks that'll make you feel like you're trapped inside an enthusiastic run-on sentence, waiting for it to finish so you can cap it with an exclamation point.

In any case, here's a wrap of those events. Words to the At The-Drive In write-up below belong to Austin-based freelance journalist Bobby Longoria, who took the photograph that graces the top of this piece.

At the Drive-In, Trees 4/10; Review by Bobby Longoria 

More than a decade has passed since At the Drive-In rallied hundreds of fans within a swaying mosh pit.

The reunion seems to be a nostalgic visit for the musicians –– and a profitable one, as each of the four 'warm up' shows sold out within minutes.

The reunion was beyond a simple rock show. A majority of the fans at the sold out Trees in Deep Ellum have likely only heard At the Drive-In played through a stereo.

As the lights there dimmed, the red curtain flew open revealing a stage lit blue with smoke floating above it. The sound of maracas grew dissonant as the band began "Arcarsenal," the first track of their most acclaimed album, Relationship of Command.

Within seconds the audience was possessed by the music. After listening to At the Drive-In for years through a car stereo or in a smoky dive bar their sound quickly became reality.

At the Drive-In played a 15 song mix of their two biggest albums –– In/Casino/Out and Relationship of Command. Save for a brief improv session, there was no new material.

Cedric Bixler-Zavala led the band with an explosive and unpredictable performance, swinging the mic around the trees lining the stage. It was a beautiful thing to see Bixler-Zavala and Jim Ward sing into the same mic, as the two were known to have the highest contention after At the Drive-In's initial breakup.

The show was a single night to relive the past –– not only for the audience, but for the band itself. It was revisiting a sweet memory, reigniting a friendship once thought lost, but always with the awareness that within moments it will be gone again.

That was At the Drive-In's imparting gift. You can revisit the past and smile, but you can never stay there.

Lechugillas/Terminator 2/Bludded Head/Eccotone/Secret Cakes at Rubber Gloves, 4/10

If anything, this excellent Gutterth-built bill felt like when Denton had a proliferation of house venues, many of which stocked bills that sounded quite a bit like this one.

The evening was the kickoff to a small tour Lechugillas and Terminator 2 headed on afterward and featured a handful of nascent supporting acts. This was only Bludded Head's second time to play in front of an audience.

Their sludgy, distortion heavy set soared louder and louder during their half-hour spot, hitting grin-inducing levels of metallic noise. It made for a perfect lead-in to Lechuguillas, who shot out of the gate with little warning and weathered a handful of beer cans, spit and cigarette butts hurled by the crowd.

That seemed to be just what the band wanted: Use energetic noise to tear down the wall between them and the crowd. You know, like they were playing in a living room on the same level as those thrashing in front.

The Hold Steady at The Loft, 4/11

Before Tuesday, the Hold Steady hadn't played a show since December of last year. That's a relatively big break for the band, which has consistently toured for the past five years.

The thing about a Hold Steady show is the lack of pretension from the men onstage. It's 90 minutes of rock'n'roll bliss; the boys in the band are just as happy as the faces in the crowd. Lead singer and sometime guitarist Craig Finn's smile often eclipses the ones he's staring out at: Nearly a decade into his group's existence, Finn still looks and acts surprised to be where he is.

His arms flail, he claps in double time, he darts about the stage and swigs beer when he can. The 40-year-old is among the most energetic of all front men, which makes for a setting full of genuine high-fives and sing-alongs.

Also, seeing the band perform without an album in tow –– their most recent was 2010's Heaven is Whenever –– means the set leaned toward a best-of rather than an album run-through.

Deep cuts like "You Gotta Dance" and "Positive Jam" made appearances, along with the band's landmark singles "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" and "Sequestered in Memphis." The band still greatly misses Franz Nicolay's keyboard –– they've added another guitarist since Nicolay departed –– which was evident on "Stuck Between Stations" and "Stevie Nix," but that's hardly a complaint.

The Hold Steady were still The Hold Steady –– bringing rock'n'roll joy to a tiny venue, if only for an evening.

Spoon at the Granada Theater, 4/12

Much like the Hold Steady, Spoon organized a small statewide jaunt this week, stopping for a sold-out set Thursday at the Granada Theater.

The room was packed and the sound was crisp as it always is there. Standing behind a microphone lined with Christmas lights, Britt Daniel led the group through a 22-song set that touched every corner of its career.

The band got the biggest response while running through the more commercially successful portions of its catalogue such as "The Way We Get By" and "The Underdog," which sounded great despite lacking a horn section.

Live and on record, Spoon produces a very calculated form of pop music. The fill-ins, the timing; everything is perfectly structured and meticulously executed. There's very little room for improvisation –– everyone knows their place, and the songs, actually, are better for it.

Seeing it live just drives that point home.