Vedora At Radio Bean Tuesday May 29, 2012

Words by Tim Lewis.

With Monday being Memorial Day, I was able to take Tuesday off as a floating holiday. After several weeks of very intense work, it was nice to have a chance to rest and relax. I knew that Vedora had a show coming up, opening for Honky Tonk Tuesday at Radio Bean, but it was the Facebook posting that reminded me, it was that day. But, I’m really tired and really don’t want to go anywhere. But it’s Vedora, and they really rock.

With great reluctance, I put on the black and pushed myself out the door. I wandered in, got a beer, and found a seat in the back. A spacey jazz band, or whatever they were, played a cool part of a song, then wrapped up, a bit late. They had a slow load out, so I knew the night was not going to be in any kind of a hurry. I spoke briefly with Caroline and she said they had a couple of new songs to play. Cool.

Eventually, Vedora got set up. I moved from the back to the corner at the end of the bar, where it joins the restaurant next door. That seemed like a good place to stand, see the show, and not block anyone.

They started with a nice, slow, gently rhythm that repeated over and over. As it kept going, it just built and built until they were rocking hard. The sound was great. You could hear bass, drums and guitar perfectly clearly. It was loud enough to feel the rock and roll go into your veins. Poor aching muscles became excited and wanted to explode with the music. It rocked on and on, until it was time to slowly ease off and return to the gentle beginning. While not sounding at all like the Cush’s Telepathic Headdress, it rocked in a similar sort of way. Ok, new song number one is great!

Next up Terrarium just rocked. They had been using that as a closer for a few shows, but putting it second kept up the momentum generated by the opening. We were off and running. The intensity eased a bit as we went down south for Maria, but after that, it was nothing but rock. I felt a bit off for the whole night, but they had me moving for every minute of the show.

Somewhere in the middle of the show they pulled out Dragnet. I’ve loved that song since I first heard them play it. It’s one of those songs that only exist when played live. I finally cracked it, and felt like I knew where it was going the whole time. The haunting Drag me out, Drag me in part has been stuck in my head ever since. The way it slips into the chorus and twists and turns into a monster of a song is truly fantastic. Even though I was off that night, and couldn’t quite find the beats, I put everything I had into listening, and was well rewarded.

The 40 minute set (or so) featured a couple more rockers, a sweet Basalt Anchor, and a new song called Ritual that was really good. They ended the night with another powerhouse rocker, and that was it. The show simultaneously filled me emotionally and drained me physically. Being pretty tired at the start, I left just after the last note. I got in a quick goodbye, and thank you, to the band then headed home. I really wanted to not go out that night, and as hard as it was, every moment was completely worth it. ‘Cause, you know, Vedora can rock it with the best of them, and they keep getting better and better!

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.