Ben Folds, The Holmes Brothers, Zero 7, Patty Griffin

Brown Theater, Louisville, KY....

All due respect to all of the artists who played this night (and they were all great), but Zero 7 was utterly amazing to see live. 

The band was promoting their second album, When It Falls, which was released that spring. A fine album--even better then their 2001 debut. They pulled out all the stops to promote it, at least for the live shows they did in their brief 2004 U.S. tour in May/June, for which this was their first show. 

The band didn't have one vocalist but rotated through multiple singers on their recordings and they were all present, including Mozez, Sia Furler, Tina Dico, and Sophie Barker. 

A review of one of their NYC shows from this tour sums up this Louisville gig as well: their music is "full of warm voices, resonant analog synthesizers and satisfying bass." They use "various guitarists, strong players and a handful of singers whose voices can be matched to different songs." 

But: "Zero 7 aims for a smooth, refined sound that's often dismissed as chill-out or make-out music. (Indeed, several couples slow-danced and even canoodled amid the packed crowd, but few seemed chilled out.) But whenever the band delivered a particularly deep groove or nicely fluttering chorus, the audience cheered as if rooted for a sports team." 

A thoroughly remarkable performance, one that lives with you for years after its occurrence. 


 

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