Concert Review: Palehound (Motorco Music Hall)

BY PIXIE HOCKER

Palehound shredded Motorco Music Hall in Durham, North Carolina on Tuesday night as a part of their Eye On The Bat Tour. El Kempner, the face of Palehound, took the stage with Jamie Pompei on drums, Larz Brogan on bass, and Beck Zegan, the latest addition, on rhythm guitar. The four of them had some of the best onstage chemistry I’ve ever witnessed.



Not only did the band have amazing chemistry with one another, they also made a point to connect with the crowd and created an incredibly intimate show. El and their bandmates were constantly cracking jokes with the crowd. As they were tuning their guitars they talked about how they were watching The L Word on the bus and how El was considering moving to North Carolina because there were "a lot of gay people here." The crowd cheered in response, and El smiled saying "That’s what I thought but I didn’t want to profile you all."



The show kicked off with the first two tracks from the album Eye On The Bat, "Good Sex" and "Independence Day." Palehound played most of the songs from that album, but also played a few from their earlier releases. I would consider Eye On The Bat one of my favorite releases from this year, but the song I was really hoping to be on the setlist was "Cinnamon." Safe to say I was ecstatic to hear that iconic guitar riff, and their performance lived up to every expectation I had. El Kempner is a talented singer, but they blow it out on the guitar. I understood how they were included on Rolling Stone's list of The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time just based on their discography, but after seeing them live I think they might need to be moved to the top.

PIXIE HOCKER
Pixie Hocker has loved music for as long as they can remember and has gone to more concerts than she can count. Pixie is the Music Director at her college station 90.5 WASU-FM and hosts a bi-weekly specialty show at Boone Area Community Radio.

Read Pixie's posts here.