While it was cold outside, bodies were being kept warm inside to the music being played by Lucius, Ava Luna and Shana Falana at the BSP Lounge in Kingston on February 21st. The BSP is a great place to see a show and it reminded me of Red Square in Albany. The staff was friendly and it was nice to be able to be close to the band and also have some dance space if you wanted it.
To begin the night, local band Shana Falana, the two-person guitar and drum act, took advantage of a projector, along with help from a Macbook every now and then, looped chants and chords to an array of visuals that were as spacey as the music. Shana Falana used her pedals to harmonize with herself a few times and Mike Amari kept a steady beat for her to work over. It was a good way to start the evening and was followed by Ava Luna. They are another Brooklyn band that has been gaining steam. Their mixture of straight rock to some heavier music was a good change of pace getting us ready for the finale. I believe they have been influenced by The Talking Heads, especially Becca Kauffman, as I could see and hear David Byrne’s influence in her stage presence as well as in the rhythms of the songs. The harmonies in this band between Becca, Felicia, and Carlos were beautiful. I enjoyed their short time on stage and highly recommend them for fans wanting to let loose and rock out for an evening.
Lucius, winding down a tour, came in high spirits to an excited crowd. They are a five-piece band from Brooklyn and they have been generating some buzz as of late, leading to a show that did not disappoint. Coming out, the first thing I noticed was how the two female leads in the band, Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, came out dressed alike, while the men in the group, Dan Molad, Peter Lalish, and Andrew Burri, did the same. It showed a sense of unity within the band. Jess and Holly harmonized together beautifully throughout the performance. Their vocals were fantastic during the whole night. The band started out the night with the only cover of evening, The Rolling Stones “Sing This All Together”, again showing how well they all would work together the rest of the evening.
They played for a little over an hour of rocking tunes, keeping the energy in the room at a high the whole time. Everyone on stage had an unrelenting vibe about them that made the crowd work hard to keep up. Toward the end of their performance, they said how happy they were to be back and that the last time they came, the band they played with ended their performance in the middle of the room with the crowd surrounding them. They asked if they could do the same as they really enjoyed the crowd tonight and they came into the middle of the room to do an acoustic number. The crowd was as silent as could be until the song was over and then let Lucius know how much they were enjoyed with a very loud ovation to close the evening. I think they won over some new fans with their non-stop high energy show.
