Rating: A-

When I bought tickets to see psychedelic garage rocker Ty Segall, I expected it to be business as usual. I didn’t know he was about to put out a solo acoustic album and was planning on touring it with an acoustic band. A bit apprehensive, Kevin and I headed out and dodged a rat as big as a squirrel.

Supposedly, the concert was supposed to start at 7:00 p.m., but Chicago noise rock trio Running didn’t take the stage till close to 8. In the meantime, I was mostly confused by all the high school kids in the audience. I guess Ty is big with the teenagers these days.

I had a blast seeing Running a couple weeks ago and was pretty pumped for their set, though they seemed like an odd choice to start an acoustic show. It started off a bit shaky; they were likely just as confused why they were playing to a crowd of teenagers. Soon enough, the volume was up high, and they ran through a similarly short set. The songs were fast, hypnotic, and kicked lots of ass. See these dudes if you get a chance and listen to their new album Vaguely Ethnic (Rating: B+)

Next was Axis:Sova, who I’d never heard of. It was just one guy playing guitar to some really weak, minimal drum tracks. He played three or four very long songs that were mostly masturbatory exercises, but I guess you could call it noisy surf rock. He would make loops, sing a little bit, then noodle away on his guitar for a little bit. Granted I can’t play the guitar, but it wasn’t that great or technical.

A few minutes into a slower song full of sensual guitar pleasure, I became so bored I went to the bathroom and checked out the merch table. This is the first time I’ve ever done something like this at a concert, but I really hated Axis:Sova and wanted it to be over. I’m giving this a D and the only reason it isn’t an F was because he was having sound problems that were the venue’s fault. Maybe there was a chance it could have been better, but I doubt it.

Ty Segall took the stage soon after with a different backing band than his usual crew—the “Sleeper Band” featured members of the Traditional Fools and Nodzzz—though Charlie Moothart was on drums. The quartet stayed seated throughout the show, but this certainly wasn’t the laidback concert I was expecting.

They started with a run through of Ty Segall’s new album Sleeper. It’s a pretty stripped down album of mostly acoustic guitars with some drums once in awhile. While the band was armed with acoustic instruments, they were run through large stacks of amps and there wasn’t much difference in loudness level between his normal shows.

While Sleeper tends to make me feel sleepy, the full band allowed for more complex arrangements of the songs that brought plenty of life to the tunes. Most tracks featured some sort of rock out section at the end along with a psychedelic freakout or guitar solo. It seems like Sleeper was something that Ty Segall needed to get out of himself and I appreciate that, but I wish I had a chance to hear those songs the way they were performed here again.

After Sleeper, the band immediately segued into a brief set of the hits. They didn’t stand up or pick up the electric guitars, but the kids started moshing and crowd surfing. Thankfully, they didn’t slow down Melted classics like “Girlfriend” or the raucous “You’re the Doctor” from Twins, which were about as powerful as on the albums.

The encore started with Ty solo playing an unexpected and rad cover of “Moonage Daydream.” The rest of the band returned for a few more hits and another cool cover: Love’s “Live and Let Live” from Forever Changes.

I honestly wasn’t expecting much from this, but ended up having a great time. Ty Segall will be back at Logan Square Auditorium with his new band Fuzz next month opening up for the Men. See you there.

Tonight @ The Whistler: Glad Cloud Ambient Music Series: Bullet Hell, Axis:sovA

Check out the hypnotic, new Glenn Branca-inspired jam that Axis:sovA dropped yesterday on his SoundCloud page. Tonight he'll be performing at The Whistler's monthly ambient music series along with Bullet Hell, a trio made up of Jacob Kart (Crush Kill Destroy, A Tundra), Jaimie Branch, and video artist Theodore Darst.