REDadmiral At Radio Bean October 9, 2015

Words by Tim Lewis.

I had a great time seeing music last night at Radio Bean. I had missed REDadmiral several times and felt I really wanted to put in the effort to go out. I got out of work an hour late, due to a long call that came in just before closing. It had rained all day and was kind of chilly. I had to be up early the next day for work and a friend stopped by to hang out for a bit, thus thwarting my hope of a nap. Undaunted, around 9:30 I started getting ready and soon after took the short walk to the Bean. I had a killer walking pace and was almost gliding by the time I slid into the coffee shop/concert space. I walked in 5 minutes before the 10pm start time and the room was full of people, mostly eating and hanging out. The band’s equipment was in the room but not at all set up. I settled in and work began to construct the stage. It went surprisingly quick and by 10:30 the band were on and rocking. Admiral play as a four-piece with two guitars, one of whom sings too, bass and drums. The band have a tight funky rock sound with a lead guitar player steeped in classic rock who played lots of solos that found some beautiful notes. It was great watching him run up the fret board and reach hard for a few notes. He sounded great and played some sweet slide now and then too. The full room when I entered had mostly emptied and been refilled with fans and everyone seemed to be enjoying the easy to dance to, yet slightly off kilter sound. At first , I was not sure if I would like them, but the insistency and urgency they brought to the music just made it fun. I enjoyed finding the rhythms and letting the body shake a little. The rest of the crowd was vocal in their appreciation and several people were dancing. Everyone was having fun. They were going to cut the set short, since they got a late start, but the next band on was a little late. They used that time efficiently by playing several more songs. There was not too much chat from Gordon Glover, the front man, singer guitar player, but there was enough to make us all realize that we were all in it together. Songs like Bullet and Stop were really cool, but most of the songs were new to me, and I had a good time during all of them. Shortly after the last note rang out, I took the quick walk home. It was a bit of an effort to get there, but I’m so glad that I went.

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