Night Beats at The Rickshaw

By Cole Young

I had never listened to Nights Beats before and once I was asked to review them I made a specific effort to not listen to them at all. Seeing a band live can be such a great way to first experience their music. This was no exception. Unfortunately I missed Altameda’s opening set, however, was pleased to see them backing Calvin Love during his solo performance before the rest of the Night Beats took the stage. Love was full of passion from start to finish. His voice, guitar skills and dance moves constantly battling for the title of the most mesmerizing part of his act and each of them took turns at the top. The man’s a natural born performer, he was a joy to watch and listen to.

Then Night Beats began, dressed in western influenced suits and a couple of elusive large brimmed hats. They were only silhouettes due to the amazing purple backlight. It kept them mysterious yet familiar, faceless yet comforting. Now since I’ve never heard any of their songs before I can’t tell you how I loved how they played such and such songs or how different it sounded than the album etc. What I can tell you though is that they played with a truly amazing amount of energy and passion. The man on keys and guitar was feeling each note of every song as if he was a human form frequency response light show.  Love, on the other side of the stage holding down his dramatic persona, every strum executed with a full arm stroke or a flick of the wrist full of pizzaz. Centre stage was occupied by the bassist and lead singer, both of whom played as flawlessly as they did gently dance to the groove.

The vocals were about as verbed out as you could ever imagine. I couldn’t understand a single word all night, even during between-song banter, however for the whole show I felt like I was clearly being told what to o, move. Clearly, several other audience members were getting the same message. The pit was going, people dancing around bumping into each other and bouncing all around, naturally, this is where I found myself for most of the set. It had a high level of energy and enthusiasm without ever getting aggressive or insensitive to the surrounding folks who were just happy to stand and watch the set. Far from the craziest pit ever however still very captivating. It’s intriguing how in a pit some people who’ve not even met before can temporarily become your best friends. Oh, the joy of live music.

I digress.

Overall I was thrilled with the pure brilliance of the songwriting and performance. The crowd is often overlooked as a significant part of any show but this performance showcased the relevance of a mesmerized audience. The emotion displayed on stage proved that the songs are truly just as capable of possessing the band as much as the crowd.