On Friday I impulsively bought tickets to one of my favorite Boston venues, Paradise Rock Club. It’s the same place I saw my first ever live show almost exactly one year ago, so this was a great way to celebrate 🙂
The warm-up act was a guy named Maeko who had a pretty tough time getting the crowd energized. He was super nice, but his music did not seem to connect with a majority of the audience. Towards the end of his performance, I turned around and discovered that my friends Max (unrelated) and Jeff were right behind me. It was a total surprise, but I’m really happy I got to hang out with them that night. Jeff was there because the lead singer of the Q-Tips owed him money (long story) and Max was along for the ride. At one point I wingmanned them with a “Have. . . You Met Ted?” to the girls next to us but all that came from it was this sentence in my blog.
The next act was Chance Emerson who came out on stage with flowing locks, a cowboy hat, and a huge smile. His energy was amazing. I was immediately obsessed with his sound, and his bandmates were all equally charismatic and talented.

The Q-Tips Bandits started their set with a single spotlight on their drummer with the bandmates obscured around him. When the chorus hit, the whole stage lit up as the band jumped out towards the audience. They were jumping a lot that night. I have no clue how they pull that off, but it makes for a great viewing experience. They have a trombonist and trumpeter who absolutely killed it in select solos during the performance, and again, how they moved around that much with those instruments baffles me. As far their music goes, I would describe it as retail pop: upbeat and fun, but not particularly deep. Still, I loved the performance and can’t wait to see more concerts this fall.

