Live Review: Little Big Show #12 with Cloud Nothings, Tacocat & Chastity Belt

Little Big Show, Local Music, Live Reviews
05/22/2015
Geran Landen
photos by Jim Bennett (view set)

Little Big Show was back in full force last week, with Cloud Nothings, Tacocat and Chastity Belt all delivering stellar sets. Best of all, Little Big Show #12 raised $11,000 for Teen Tix, a local non-profit empowering young people to take an active role in shaping their arts community as audience members, critics, influencers, advocates, patrons, and leaders.

Chastity Belt may only have one album under their belt, but they're hardly new to the Seattle Music scene. The band met at Whittman College in central Washington and upon their graduation moved to Seattle, where they have been seemingly playing shows ever since. For them, LBS #12 was different than the rest in an important way. Not only was the show raising money for Teen Tix, but it also marked Chastity Belt's last local show before they leave to tour with Courtney Barnett. Their unique blend of humor, charm and hazy guitar tones was in full effect for this send-off show. vocalist/guitarist Julia Shapiro talked to humorous effect about how she paid five dollars to a fortune teller, who revealed a husband and kid were in her imminent future. As the band's set came to an end, it seemed a much more likely future would reveal Chastity Belt soon headlining a tour of their own. But it doesn't take 5 bucks and a fortune teller to deduce that.

Chastity Belt:

It's fun to listen to Tacocat through headphones, but in order to fully experience the brilliance of this local band, you need to see them live. The energy they take to stage isn't just limited to on stage antics. It transcend into their music and gives it an extra umph that just doesn't translate through listening at home. For a set that featured dancing and light spirited music, their LBS performance was impressively tight. Lead vocalist Emily Nokes uses the tambourine so well, I now refer to it as an underrated instrument. What Tacocat may have lacked this time in dancing lobsters and sharks did not detract from their dynamic energy. In fact, the songs hit you with that much more gusto. In "Hey Girl" the "Hey Girls!" pack an extra punch, and "Surfing the Crimson Wave" benefits from the lively atmosphere of a concert venue - dancing lobsters and sharks present or not.

Tacocat:

The headlining set by Cloud Nothings was punk enough to incite a mosh pit on the floor of The Neptune, yet catchy enough to please those less mosh-inclined. The fact that their sound is always a happy marriage of punk and pop is never more evident than in the live setting. On their previous Seattle appearances as show openers, they stole the show. As a headliner at LBS, their performance was just as raucous yet also more precise. The crowd responded with wild enthusiasm by thrashing and crowdsurfing throughout the set. It was almost impossible to decide to either shove into someone or dance away.

Cloud Nothings:

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