KEXP New Home Grand Opening: Strand of Oaks

KEXP New Home
04/16/2016
Scott Kulicke
photo by Matthew B. Thompson

Strand of Oaks and KEXP have history together, and as they took the stage they were immediately sincere and earnest in their thanks: not being from Seattle can be hard on folks, and they explained that their long involvement with the station, in particular with DJ John Richards, have been what has made Seattle feel like home. Their first song came in hot, especially compared to the intimate energy of the preceding solo shows.

photo by Amber Knecht

photo by Amber Knecht
photo by Melissa Wax

photo by Bebe Labree Besch

You could see the bobbing, concerned children who were sitting on their parent's shoulders as their mounts began to dance to Oaks hard-knocking rock...

photo by Bebe Labree Besch

photo by Bebe Labree Besch

photo by Amber Knecht

photo by Amber Knecht

They killed: their hard but patient, mid-tempo rock was equal parts dance-y and atmospheric, and before the final song they gave a special thanks to later-in-the-evening performer Bob Mould "for letting me rip off all his chords." A particular highlight of their set was during a long, melting guitar solo frontman Tim Showalter had to stop playing just to let out a bellowing, powerful scream.

photo by Bebe Labree Besch

 

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