Tales from the pit

Sept. 2 marked the first and last time I will ever see Engine Down play in Philadelphia.

No, the Church is not closing and no it was not that Engine Down was so dreadful that I would have rather listened to my dad’s Bob Seiger tapes (I would actually like to burn those). It’s just like many other good things – unfortunately, it just has to come to an end.

Being new to the whole indie rock scene, I must say that upon entering the First Unitarian Church I was a bit skeptical. As a punker for many years, I’ve grown to learn what goes down at some punk shows: moshing, pogo dancing and sweat. In fact you’d never dare leave without a new shirt, that is unless you enjoy driving home as if you just left a water park.

But when the Philly-based group True if Destroyed hit the stage I quickly learned indie rock kids are not to be feared. Oh no, it’s quite the contrary – they should be hugged. These kids are listening to some pretty good tunes. In fact True if Destroyed offered one of the most unique sounds I have heard in a long time.

Now you readers should be warned about my opinion. Technically speaking this is one of my first indie rock shows, so I am still dumb, but I still thought they were pretty rad.

Des Ark followed having a rather eccentric stage presence, or should I say “floor presence.” The band invited everyone to crowd around them as they roared through six catchy songs. They may have been lacking a bass player, but with Aimee Argote’s energy you would have thought she was a one-woman band. This is when I came to realize that indie rock kids aren’t much different than those punkers, because they were rocking out just as hard. The only difference being that they didn’t smell bad.

The ladies’ night continued when Bella Lea hit the stage. Once I heard Maura Davis’ voice, I realized that this band and I were definitely going to have a relationship.

If the show was this good so far, I couldn’t even imagine what the headlining band was going to be like. From the minute Richmond’s quartet took the stage the only word that could come to mind was bittersweet. Everything those kids were telling me was true.

Engine Down’s vocalist was superb, not to mention their rocking riffs. This band was definitely as neat as pizza. I wish their 14-song set would have lasted longer because they truly were a rock n’ roll treat. It’s refreshing when bands share the duty of lead vocalist. I’m personally a fan of everyone singing.

The high point of the show came when Maura Davis shared the stage with the Engine Down vocalist for a song. Their voices harmonized well together and left everyone wanting more.

Even though this was their last show in town, the band didn’t bother to say goodbye, claiming they didn’t know how. I don’t know about you but “goodbye” was definitely one of my first words. But hey I’ m not here to judge them on speaking skills.

This show was definitely worth the $8.

Rosalie Yurasits can be reached at rosaliey@temple.edu.