Rubblebucket Brings Dance Party to Grog Shop, Right When We Needed it Most

Kalmia Traver began last night’s show with a simple request: “I want to see your hearts!” The audience was all in, tossing hands in the air and bending index fingers and thumbs into the shape of a heart (although some of us had to, like, tuck our Sibling Revelry IPAs into the crook of our arm awkwardly when doing so).  And the first song of the night, “Pain From Love,” dovetailed perfectly with the mania that this country is feeling right now. It was time to dance.

Rubblebucket is on the cusp of dropping a new album, and so last night’s show was peppered with new songs. All of them came off really well, and the audience danced wildly through the whole show. (We wrote two years ago about Rubblebucket bringing new material to Cleveland.) Interspersed among the new stuff, like “IF U C My Enemies” and “Donna,” were the latter-day Rubblebucket classics: “Carousel Ride,” “On the Ground,” “Came Out of a Lady,” etc. (I’m still chasing “Down in the Yards.” And I did hear quite a few people call out for “Triangular Daisies.” The old school was vocal.)

One of my favorite parts of the night came during an unexpected cover of Fugazi’s “Waiting Room.” Funked up and dynamic (in a different way than the original), this tune just felt like such a good call at the midpoint of the show. So much fun.

For the encore, the band played “Silly Fathers” and “Save Charlie,” the latter accompanied by a sea of balloons (including a balloon snake) that ebbed and bobbed across a giddy late-night crowd.

Anot her quick note: This was a strong bill. Punch Drunk Tagalongs opened the show, bringing the right sort of energy to a Rubblebucket show, and Mal Devisa held down the middle slot of the night. I was really blown away by her voice and bass phrasings. Like Brittany Howard on morphine (or in Morphine, for that matter).

This article appears in Nov 30 – Dec 6, 2016.