On March 9th, I went to a concert up in Dallas. Actually it was in Grand Prairie, a suburb in the middle of D/FW, but for most people it’s easier for me to just tell them Dallas. On the bill for the night were Silversun Pickups, OK Go, and Snow Patrol. I knew the most about SSPU going in, having recently discovered them and purchasing a couple of their CDs, whereas I did not know a lot about OK Go or Snow Patrol (I went with a huge Snow Patrol fan, though). The venue in Grand Prairie was NOKIA Theatre. It seats a little over 6,000 people across two fanned out levels, so that even people sitting in the back are still pretty close to the action. The stage is pretty large, but not huge, and there are plenty of amplifiers hanging everywhere. It’s basically a perfect size venue for bands that are between the smaller clubs and the huge arenas, such as Snow Patrol.

Silversun Pickups came on at about 8:00 to a half empty theater. They started their set with “Well Thought Out Twinkles”, and proceeded to play 5 more songs afterwards. Despite being in front of a crowd that was mostly unfamiliar with them, they played with more energy than the other two acts that night. Behind them was a slightly multicolored background, and they had a little bit of lighting, but other than that there were no tricks. The source of their energy and the focal point of the band is their guitarist, Brian Aubert. They do have a very talented, all over the place drummer who provides perfect beats for the songs’ grooves. The bassist, Nikki Monninger, has a kind of calm energy. When she plays, she does a little side step thing with a head bob thrown in that’s pretty groovy. Nikki also sings a little in some of the songs, but she sounds much better when she sings with the guitarist. They have a nice little harmony going on. And the keyboardist is kind of doing his own thing the whole time. Brian, on the other hand, when he’s not doing his vocal duties, is jumping around all over the place on the stage, in and out of the spotlight, shredding his guitar, making as much noise as possible. The band and the songs feed off of him, which is a good thing, because he has a lot to give. In between songs he would say little random comments, like how drunk he got in Tulsa at the previous tour stop, or would just mention OK Go and Snow Patrol to get a cheer from the crowd. They closed their set at about 8:30ish, the last two songs being “Kissing Families” from their Pikul Ep, and their current single “Lazy Eye”, which is actually starting to get a little bit of radio play right now. Throughout their short, 6-song set, they played loud and furiously despite not being known by the audience, who were still entering while they were playing. Once they start to get a following and release another album, you can bet that the next time they come to town they’ll be welcomed by loving, familiar fans.