Rival Schools & the King Left @ Mercury Lounge, NYC - pics
photos by Kurt Christensen
After Maxwell’s which was after Knitting Factory which was after Rebel which were all before Fun Fun Fun Fest, Rival Schools played a show at Irving Plaza followed by a show at Mercury Lounge the same night with Innaway and The King Left. Pictures from that one (11/6), below…
Innaway…
The King Left…
Rival Schools…
“Rival Schools came on to the hope of new material (which is true) and a familiarity that the crowd had with the old standards, anticipation of a long hiatus building and the band’s age shining through. There’s is an undeniable Quicksand imprint, and both have a somewhat unique 90s sheen to them (even though Rival Schools was bigger around 2001) with hoarse vocals but a “grungier” (hate to use it but I guess it’s the simplest way to describe it) feel than some of the other bands of the time I think. There’s a patience and a slower pace almost; save some election talk there was little banter between songs and they pushed through most of United By Fate, their only officially released LP to date and a couple covers. Songs like “Travel By Telephone” and “Used For Glue” came back suddenly, but the audience really kept their cool; it’s as if “hey this is what I came for, that’s totally cool, and I’m possibly a bit old to be moshing”. The atmosphere was energetic but not overwhelming, as if the fans were a bit nostalgic and were a bit frozen in the wake of songs that they probably hadn’t heard live in a while. The new songs pushed a bit more pop and conventional but sounded fresh and pretty tight. It was an economic show, expected and very professional and definitely satisfying.” [Kings County Bop]