Only Chandeliers played and I wrote a different sort of synopsis for this one, so I'm just gonna copy and paste that over here.
I had a really good night and I wanted to share. :)
So once upon a time there was this sweet piano rock band from San Diego called Pistolita and Caity was a big fan. I actually saw them quite a few times at Chain Reaction in Anaheim and they quickly became one of my favorite semi-local bands. They played at the very first show I went to in '04 and I believe the last time I got to see them was in December of '06. (Last time with the original lineup was the first Bamboozle Left in October '06) After the original bassist, Alex, left the band they had a varied line up for a short while and eventually called it quits and I never had the chance to see them again, to my extreme dismay.
Each of the guys ended up doing different projects for a while; Alex has been in a few different metal bands in SD I believe and Cory Stier, the drummer, was in Weatherbox until recently. Justin Shannon has his own solo stuff going on and Conor, the singer/pianist actually moved to Texas and eventually joined up with or formed the band Chandeliers. I think that started sometime last year, but it was only very recently that they left Texas and headed for the West Coast to play some shows.
Tonight (er last night?) I got to see Chandeliers play at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood and it may not seem like a big deal because very few people know them and it's not the same, but for me, this is the closest I will probably ever get to a "final show" or any kind of Pistolita reunion. I got to say hello to Conor for the first time in over two years and Justin came out for the show too. Anyone who knows me knows how terrible I am at talking to people and bands are no exception so it was exciting for me that they each knew who I was and actually came up to me. Conor gave me a cd and I enjoyed the set very much, even if I'm still biased towards Pistolita and seeing Chandeliers made me miss them that much more.
In comparison, I'd have to say Pistolita seemed a lot more tight and comfortable together on stage. Chandeliers is still a fairly young band so far as I know, so of course it will take time for them to leave that semi-awkward phase and really fit together. Some of the songs still sounded a little rough, but I really loved hearing "Ceiling Stars" live. "Window Seat" sounded the best to me from their set, however. Everything just seemed to come together perfectly for that one song and I think those few minutes were my favorite of the night. They reminded me the most of what it was like to see Pistolita and how much I always loved watching them. It sounds ridiculously cheesy but there were a few times throughout the show that I would just close my eyes and pretend I was back two or three years ago seeing them at Chain again.
Anyway. Long story short, I had a wonderful night and it was very cool to see a few guys from a band I once loved for the first time in years. I highly recommend checking out Chandeliers, and maybe even looking up Pistolita's CD as well because it's definitely still one of my favorites.
www.myspace.com/wearechandeliers
www.myspace.com/pistolita
P.S. Another mini brag for anyone who's been to a record store with me in the past few years. Just for the hell of it, I usually check the aisles for Pistolita's old CD (which came out in early '06) and whenever I find the Artist tab with no albums left, I'm very tempted to ask the store if I can keep it but I've never had the balls to actually ask for fear that I'll get a no. Tonight at the Virgin Megastore on Hollywood Blvd I finally asked and now I've got my very own Pistolita tab. :) Kind of a silly thing to be excited over, but I am. So there that is.
P.S. Another mini brag for anyone who's been to a record store with me in the past few years. Just for the hell of it, I usually check the aisles for Pistolita's old CD (which came out in early '06) and whenever I find the Artist tab with no albums left, I'm very tempted to ask the store if I can keep it but I've never had the balls to actually ask for fear that I'll get a no. Tonight at the Virgin Megastore on Hollywood Blvd I finally asked and now I've got my very own Pistolita tab. :) Kind of a silly thing to be excited over, but I am. So there that is.
