Donnelly: Quiet Corral at the Granada, October 26, 2012

After touring the country, opening for the likes of the Dave Matthews Band and Gomez, Lawrence’s Quiet Corral triumphantly returned and drew a strong crowd at Granada Friday…

The band took the stage in its usual fashion, with many of its six members pounding drums and auxiliary percussion, including a huge marching band bass drum that was strapped to lead singer Braswell Roberts’ chest.  The band wailed away, building into a rhythmic frenzy before launching full steam into its set.

Although of late Quiet Corral has been compared a lot with folk-rock-revival acts like Mumford & Sons and the Lumineers, I didn’t get that vibe at all.  Other than that they have lots of harmonies and use some acoustic instruments at times, including the mandolin.

They sounded more like a post-grunge alt/pop act to me, like David Grey or Barenaked Ladies.  Very much so on a handful of songs that featured big, simple choruses, with repeating sing-along lyrics.

More effective than those go-to G-C-D chorus anthems though, were the moments when Roberts really let his voice tell the story while his bandmates added a subtle accent here and there.  He has a style that is very emotive, with a somewhat flat tone that could be exploited even more to his band’s advantage.

But I guess when you have six members, sometimes it gets a little busy and messy in there.

As the band played through its approximately hour and a half set, it was clear that many friends and family were in attendance.  The band exchanged barbs with the fans down front, and the fans fired back with some of their own, including a repeated request for the acoustic guitar player to take off his shirt.  Which, incidentally, he never did.

The crowd got fired up again when Quiet Corral returned to the stage for a short encore.  Obviously in the know, the drunken scenesters in the pit relentlessly chanted, “Jackson 5, Jackson 5!” over and over until the band relented, busting out a surprisingly accurate rendition of the hit, I Want You Back.

This left everyone in attendance (at least anyone with a soul) feeling good as the lights came on.  Not content to be ushered out into the night, tons of people hung around, drank one more beer, and waited to talk with the band.

Though they’re not terribly innovative, Quiet Corral knows what they’re good at, and it’s served them well thus far.  Let’s see if their new album- set for release any day now- opens any more doors for these local boys.

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3 Responses to Donnelly: Quiet Corral at the Granada, October 26, 2012

  1. legendaryhog says:

    Actually that Jackson 5 song was “I Want You Back” I believe. Which, was the most fun song of the night. Good show, but I guess I don’t get all the hype. Definitely don’t get the Mumford/Lumineers references. They don’t really play the same style of music. I didn’t find much folk-y about any of their set, in fact they had some pretty distorted guitars for a lot of the set, kinda an alt-rock thing going.

    On a side note, I don’t get the “lets all play drums” thing with every fucking band anymore. Did that ever work? No one is playing anything different than the drummer himself, it’s just a muddy mess. It’s not like there is an awesome percussionist rocking it out. Its just every band member who can’t really play drums banging on a floor tom. Half the time when I see bands do this, I’m not sure the sound guy is even putting them through the mains. I guess if it is all for show for people who don’t know better, than fine, but sonic-wise, it just muddies everything up. I know it’s cool now to be a “multi-instrumentalist,” but how bout just being a badass on one instrument first instead of being mediocre on five.

    Fun show though, I’d go again.

  2. LarryvilleLover says:

    Barenaked Ladies? What show did you attend because I must have been at a different one… I highly doubt that many college kids would spend their Friday night at a concert listening to a band that sounded like the Barenaked Ladies. Seriously, work on your references if you want to write about music.

  3. kcmusicman says:

    Yeah, I’m with LarryvilleLover.

    Not sure how this:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erub0FnUSRU

    and this:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC_q9KPczAg

    relate to each other AT ALL. Barenaked Ladies, seriously? Come on.

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