Thank You Scientist with Bent Knee, The Tea Club

Prior to this concert, I had heard a song or two by Thank You Scientist but had never heard of Bent Knee or The Tea Club. I found out about the concert a couple hours before it started and had no expectations. It was held at a small standing-room only venue that had a max capacity of around 200 and there were probably 100-150 people there.

The Tea Club played one 30 minute song entitled, "Creature." They seemed pretty tight. It had a movement or two that stood out as great; the rest was good.

The main reason I felt compelled to write this post was Bent Knee. I have seen 30ish concerts by 20 or so prog bands over the past 15 years (the entirety of my prog life). Steve Hackett's Genesis Revisited tour of 2014 previously held the title of best energy ever put on by the band. Bent Knee absolutely blew that show out of the water. I'm going to sound repetitive if I do this all individually, but Courtney Swain (lead vocals/keyboards), Ben Levin (guitar/vocals), Chris Baum (violin), and Jessica Kion (bass/vocals) all had out-of-this-world stage presence. Ben and Jessica were grooving together and playing beautifully off each other the whole time. Chris was a man possessed by the music. Courtney had the second most charisma I've ever seen from any front man/woman, only behind a young Ian Anderson. Everyone was all smiles and looked like they were having the time of their lives. Most of their songs were a bit too poppy for me to really get into with the exception of the fantastic set closer, "Lovemenot." The set was probably 45-60 minutes and was worth the price of admission by itself. I highly recommend seeing them if you ever get the chance.

I really dislike Salvatore Marrano's vocals, so I wouldn't pay too much attention to my opinion of Thank You Scientist live. The two positives I took away from their performance was I'd probably really like them with a different/no singer and that Tom Monda (guitar) had absurd technical skills.

The whole show was three and a half hours.

Thanks for the reviews! I've missed Bent Knee every time they've come near me--I even had tickets to see them last summer in Milwaukee! (Life keeps getting in the way.) Someday . . . I hope I'm lucky enough to catch them with other quality acts like Thank You Scientist, The Tea Club, or District 97.