If there’s one thing you can say about Old Man Markley‘s live shows, it’s that you will definitely have a good time. With their upbeat mix of bluegrass and punk, the crowd turns into a giant dance party, even if they’re in a not-so-giant space.
Their show at Union Hall in Brooklyn on Sunday was no different. The venue is fairly small, with the performance space in a humid basement below the main bar. The stage is tiny enough that the seven members of the band in attendance were crowded and would occasionally bump into each other. But it doesn’t matter.
After opening act Nightmare River Band finished their set of upbeat folk-rock, Old Man Markley came out and powered through a full set of their signature upbeat bluegrass-folk-punk (Bluepunk? Punkgrass? Does this need a name?). As expected, the audience erupted into a dance-a-thon. It was somewhere between a mosh pit and a hoe down, which sounds incredibly bizarre until you experience it for yourself.
In addition to mastering their spot-on harmonies and high-powered violin and banjo solos, the band seems like they’re having a blast when they play, trading jokes (and drinks…and sweat towels) with each other. And that just rubs off on the crowd. This is a band that hooked me with a show, when I first saw them during Punk Rock Bowling, and seeing them again proved to me that their concerts are not to be missed. Sure, their recorded material is great, but live is truly how they shine. They played a lot of their album, “Guts N Teeth,” plus a couple of bluegrass standards (I’ll have to take the band’s word that they were standards; I know basically nothing about bluegrass). It doesn’t matter if you’ve listened to “Guts N Teeth” front to back a million times or if you’ve never heard a single song before, they’ll get you moving.
If you’re in Canada, you’re in luck, because the group is playing a short tour in the great white north with label-mates NOFX and Teenage Bottlerocket. Remaining dates are here. If you’re anywhere near where they are playing, I highly recommend you go check them out.
The East Coast and Midwest dates–roughly half–of the 2011 Rockstar Uproar Festival have been announced. This year’s edition will be headlined by SoCal Rockers Avenged Sevenfold and will also feature Three Days Grace, Seether and Bullet For My Valentine, Escape The Fate, Sevendust, as well as Black Tide, Art Of Dying and The Black Cloud Collective (Brandon Saller of Atreyu‘s side project.) Click here to check out the dates. [Read more…]