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Devotchka performance makes Tuesday feel like Saturday night
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In front of a packed house at the Neurolux, an eclectic, exotic, transcendent performance full of instrumental serenades made Tuesday night feel like a Saturday. The usual Tuesday night scene is more laid back and chill, with only the slightest hum emitted from the bars. On this particular night, the vibe was a little burlesque vaudevillian, a little jazz mixed with the soulful sounds of the blues, and a little mariachi to set the tone for an unforgettable performance.
Most musicians will say that playing live is what it is all about. However, it is rare to find a performance with a little bit of everything to move everyone. An amazing local opening act served as the proper preamble and pumped up the crowd with her harmonic voice. Kris Doty, a Boise State graduate, played her heart out in front of a packed house. Besides a Johnny Cash cover, the music-major, English-minor performed her own material. In between each song, Doty would remind the audience that the main event would soon take the stage.
Doty grew up with music in the home and played the piano as a kid. Doty said she loves the fact that she is doing not only what she loves, but also what she went to school for. “I know it’s only a bar, but it is what I studied to be,” said Doty. Her amazing voice and progressive sound earned Doty the opening act spot for Devotchka.
Frontman Nick Urata said he loved the opening act. “Her voice was amazing,” Urata said. A little after 10 p.m., Devotchka took the stage, well, two of the members did. The upright bassists and the violinist started with a somber melody, and then from the middle of the room, standing on chairs, two mariachi trumpets chimed in, and the show had begun. Sousaphone, upright bassist, and vocalist Jeanie Schroder wore a bright flower in her hair and danced with her bass and lit up sousaphone all night. “There is no one specific influence on our music, just different ethnic sounds,” Schroder said. The rich bold differences, meshed harmonically together, kept the audience engaged ballad after ballad.
The melodies were unique yet classic and virtually timeless, and the performance nostalgic. With eyes closed, the music moved your body. Once opened, a treat awaited, with the whole band dancing, and the crowd clapping in unison as Urata played the guitar like a rock and roll god, and violinist and accordion player Tom Hagerman made the violin sing.
Drummer, percussionist, and trumpeter Shawn King brought most of the mariachi influence to the band. A former Spanish teacher, King said he played with a few mariachi bands in Mexico. “Our horn sound is much more song based and salsa sounding than the jazzy sound people might associate the horn with,” King said.
The classic mariachi close left an impression on one Boise State student who said, “In the last five years of attending show after show, this band is by far the best.” Jason Roblis sat in a corner booth captivated by the soulfully enriched sounds of Devotchka. “They keep you engaged ballad after ballad.… They are like listening to the focal point of all the world‘s cultures,” said Roblis.
At the close of the evening, Devotchka thanked the crowdfor making a Tuesday feel like a Saturday, and then, with a riff from Black Sabbath’s “Sweetleaf,” he left the stage.
But alas, the infamous encore was requested, and the crowd was left with one more melody to hold onto.
Amber Fuger / Culture Writer
