Concert goers got their money’s worth at Seattle’s Moore Theatre show featuring Spoon with openers Micachu & the Shapes and Deerhunter. Britt Daniels, the lead singer and guitar player, swept up the audience the moment he walked on stage. He came out solo and began playing an acoustic version of “Me and the Bean,” from their first album with Merge Records, Girls can Tell. The lighting on the stage, for the moment, comprised of twinkle lights wrapped around and built into their gear. It was beautiful and unexpected.

Daniels followed the opener with a low-key version of “Mystery Zone,” from their newest album Transference with Eric Harvey on piano. The excitement could be felt as the crowd waited for more. Their gentle crescendo into a rock experience was genius. Their third song satisfied cravings for rock when the rest of the band-mates, Jim Eno on drums and Rob pope on Bass, joined the stage for “Written in Reverse.”

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The anticipating crowd did not quite know what they were getting themselves into as they wrapped around the Showbox Sodo. This Seattle venue is a bit lackadaisical in its interior design, and has the look of a never fully metamorphosed warehouse. Despite its cold cement floors and rudimentary square shape it continues to sell out shows and cram in the masses. It is no surprise that the gist of the crowd filing through the doors is college aged cutesy kids who look prepared for serious dancing (and perhaps a few spandex clad overzealous fanatics who came prepared for who knows what).

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The Big Pink returned to Los Angeles on Tuesday night and the lineup they provided at the El Rey Theatre was not in the least bit disappointing. With openers such as Io Echo, Active Child, and A Place To Bury Strangers, the crowd packed it into the music venue and prepared themselves for some hard core noise to afflict their ear drums. BeatCrave was there to cover everything from the beginning to the end. If our photos below don’t hint at how epic it was, let us tell you in our own words.

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It was another night at Bardot for their Lo-Fi series, but of course BeatCrave doesn’t go out to see “just another band.” Following Manifest Equality on Saturday night, we went right over to catch a set by New Jersey’s rock band, Steel Train. As a band who has traveled on the road for most of their existence, Steel Train turned a small show at a small Hollywood club into a night much bigger than expected.

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As label mates of MGMT and a band known to bring similar dance groves to the packed venues around the East Coast, Bear Hands has been getting a ton of buzz in the New York music scene. They’ve been around for about five years and still not that much love from Los Angeles.

Fortunately,  I was lucky enough to catch the trio’s first performance in the LA area at local favorite Spaceland before they would rock the Troubadour the next evening. It was apreview of things to come.

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Monday night was a bittersweet night for those who attended Princeton‘s last residency at Spaceland. Not only did those indie pop rockers with baby faces play the night out with more than a sense of accomplishment but they had also been courteous enough to have Castledoor on the roster that night. You may remember Castledoor from our Know Your LA Bands series, but if you’re a true follower of local music, you also know that Castledoor has paid their dues with numerous shows at every LA venue you can think of. This night just happened to be their very last show as a band.

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With a girl in a pink cowboy style outfit, a drummer in scrubs with a sars mask, a singer in some glittery monk style robe with the hat Paul Revere wore, and the popular indie duo of male guitar wielding nerd with attractive girl on keys, it looked like a bad episode of Pee Wee’s playhouse sound checking at Spaceland on Saturday night. It wasn’t exactly what you would have expected to see on the night of a Harlem show, but every single detail definitely brought something to the experience.

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London indie pop group, Fanfarlo, graced Los Angeles with their presence once more this past Saturday at the El Rey Theatre. With Brooklyn band, April Smith and The Great Picture Show opening up with a very feisty and powerful set (amazing vocals!), Fanfarlo had a nearly sold out show with fans who enjoy the smooth vocals of Simon Balthazar and the allegro but unconventional strings provided by Cathy Lucas. These fans obviously included us since they’ve been one of our BeatCrave Favs.

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BeatCrave presented a show with our friends over at I Promote Good Bands on Friday night at The Echoplex with Radars to the Sky as headliners and The Hectors, Rademacher, and One Trick Pony for an awesome lineup. As some of the bands in Los Angeles who have been making music for years, the night was filled with some fantastic sets and guest appearances. For those of you who missed out because of rain or Broken Bells, we’ve got a quick re-cap on the night and a great live photo gallery for you below!

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