White Rabbits – Larimer Lounge, Denver, CO, 13/10/07

When it comes to finding new music, the internet age we live in can be a bit of a double-edged sword. Bands are permeating every corner of the cyber-world via MySpace and last.fm, not to mention countless music blogs. It’s thanks to these sites that I’ve discovered a number of my favorite bands, but it can also be quite overwhelming for those of us who are music fanatics. I mean, let’s face it: new bands on the scene need something that sets them apart from the rest of the pack if they expect to prevail in attracting listeners.

New York City’s White Rabbits have been grabbing the attention of critics and bloggers alike with their energetic live show and brilliant debut album Fort Nightly, and they brought their unique brand of calypso rock to the Larimer Lounge over the past weekend. It was a cold, rainy night and a late show that would normally have deterred me from venturing out, but I’d been looking forward to seeing them for a while now. I grudgingly skipped their set at the Monolith Festival (in favor of William Elliott Whitmore) because I knew they’d be coming back ’round in a month.

Everything I’d heard about the White Rabbits’ live show was right on the money. With two drummers, two guitarists, a bassist, a keyboardist and tambourines everywhere, they packed themselves onto Larimer’s small stage and put on one of the best shows I’ve seen all year. Though the banter was in short supply, Greg did mention that the Rockies had won 19 of their last 20 games (at the time anyway), and even did a little “MVP! MVP! MVP!” chant for Matt Holliday… Rockies baseball fever is gripping everyone who comes through Denver, it seems.

With just one album to draw from, most of the material was unsurprisingly taken from Fort Nightly, though we did get two quite promising new songs. First was “Sea Of Rum”, a very island-flavored tune about Saint Michael, the devil, and drunkenness. You can hear it on The Daytrotter Session that White Rabbits did back in July. Details have become a bit hazy on the other new song they played, but I think it may be that first song of the Daytrotter Session… Great new stuff.

One of my favorite perks of live music is the chance to see how bands interact with each other – it actually adds to my enjoyment when bands clearly have a great time playing together. That the White Rabbits mesh very well is evident not only by their unspoken onstage communication but also by their tight harmonies, crisp playing and two-drummer synchronization. To define the White Rabbits’ live show as energetic is a severe understatement. Their energy infiltrated the room, gathering momentum throughout the hour-long set before finally exploding in the near-mosh-pit inducing “The Plot” – which was, according to Stephen, the fastest they’ve ever played it. The encore ended the amazing night with the most interesting cover of “Maggie’s Farm” that I’ve ever heard segueing into “I Used To Complain Now I Don’t”.

Though the options for your Next Favorite Band are infinite, you can believe the hype with these White Rabbits. See them, love them, buy their album.

Links
White Rabbits [official site] [myspace] [daytrotter session]