#lotg2017

Following them was Real Estate, and oh my is this band good.  Reverb drenched guitar riffs rolled smoothly into the crowd as the audience swayed and danced with unwavering smiles.  “Two Arrows,” from their six-month-old In Mind, was definitely a highlight of the live show.  This song’s lengthy outro was exaggerated in the best possibly way, getting even noisier and more chaotic as the song went on.  On the record, the song ends without warning when the noise reaches its high point, but once they reached this point live, all the tension released and they fell back in to the beginning part of this riff.  They closed with “It’s Real,” and a chorus of “Whoa, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh” filled downtown Nashville.  The timing felt like a movie, but literally as soon as they let the last notes ring, a soft rain began to fall over Public Square Park.

Fortunately it never was anything more than a soft rain, but it was still enough to clear out all the fair-weather Local Native fans.  The rain began to let up as the Los Angeles natives (or should I say, locals?) took the stage, and those who stuck it out through the light drizzle were rewarded appropriately. Local Natives’ percussive style of indie/experimental rock was dance friendly, overflowing with energy, and so easy to have a great time with at this show.  They played “Wide Eyes” from their debut Gorilla Manor early on, and the polyrhythmic, percussion centric classic had things off to a great start.  The band worked together so well, and it was amazing how they so effortlessly created a wide range of convincing emotions, from the uplifting synthy dance track “Villainy” to the emotional and longing “Airplanes.”  The set continued on without a dull point, and rightfully so finished incredibly strong with their hit “Sun Hands.”  Lead singer Taylor Rice crowd surfed, every single person there belted out the chorus, and week 2 of LOTG came to a massive end.