Aqueduct + Georgie James + Tulsa - Great Scott (Allston, MA; Nov. 14, 2007)

Chatting with the booking guy at Great Scott, our surprise at the thinness of the crowd was given professional support. There couldn’t have been more than a couple of dozen people out. Even for a Wednesday night, this seemed ridiculous. Before Wednesday, Aqueduct had been in Boston twice this year, which should have generated enough of a fan base to, if not pack the place, at least partially fill it. It’s not a large venue, the sound is usually really good, and they’re getting good acts. I just don’t understand why more people didn’t show.

Aqueduct was comfortable on stage, even with a small, boisterous group of young fans (sucks to BU?) interacting with them in something between heckling and worshipping. I wonder if, having a fort of keyboards and synthesizers lends a kind of confidence in knowing that you can outlast any kind of siege from such fans, and thus frees the band to egg them on. Demanding a cage-match to resolve which song should be requested for an encore certainly suggests this. [One of the proposed combatants threatened to bite the other audience-member, if he didn’t give in to her encore song request. Very nice. -jjb]

Aqueduct’s electronic toys, pre-recorded horn track and various combinations of guitars, keyboards, synth, bass and drum are all used to great effect. A sort of drooping fanfare opens “As You Wish,” a song made up largely of quotations from the movie “The Princess Bride,” and David Terry’s howling majestically fleshes out the familiar feelings of desperation, sport, revenge, true love, and badinage of swords and lyrics.

Highlights included an encore that Terry promised would “make [us] shit [our] pants”: a live “Regulators,” and shitty pants were had by all. The rest of the band, Andy Fitts on bass, Chris Whitten on drums, and Matt Nader on guitar and keyboard, added some good, thick backing vocals. The entire band certainly seemed to have a good time playing the Walker, Texas Ranger theme, and their sense of play and interaction was infectious.

Set list.

1. As Close As Your Girlfriend Is Far Away
2. The Suggestion Box
3. Split The Difference
4. Unavailable
5. The Tulsa Trap (dedicated to the opener, Tulsa)
6. Hardcore Days & Softcore Nights
7. Heart Design—Nader started on the 88s for this one, but moved back to guitar midway through for climactic emphasis. All to great effect.
8. As You Wish
9. Just The Way I Are
10. ??
11. Living a Lie
12. The Unspeakable
E1. Regulators
E2. Theme from Walker, Texas Ranger
E3. Broken Records

As for openers, Tulsa, a rockin’ local band, filled the venue with sound with only three men. They said they were trying out a new drummer, and from the performance, I’d certainly hope they keep him. They sound like some of the better bands from the 90s, and played very accessible stuff. It’s just hard not to like a band whose drummer uses a plastic maraca for a drumstick.

Georgie James also played, and while they were generally solid, they did have one song that really stood out. It’s called “Long Week,” and its refrain of “Don’t cry your eyes out, pretty baby” rocks in a very soulful, bluesy lament. Certainly grab the song if you can.

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