I, like everyone else on the planet, have a list of “things I’ve been meaning to do.” One of them is to use Cleveland’s House of Blues a little more.
I’ve always liked the House. I’ve been to the ones in Orlando, New Orleans, Los Angeles, and of course, Cleveland. The place has a great vibe. They do a great job of bringing in a mix of smaller acts and big name people. Here at Cleveland’s HOB, they have two rooms, the larger Music Hall, and the smaller, more intimate Cambridge Room.
I’ve wanted to go to more things there, to try out more new music, a lot more often. Otherwise, it’s one of those things that you always talk about, but never go to. Like the Rock Hall, which I only visit when I have visitors from out fo town.
So I got this e-mail from the House about a quartet called Amiina coming to town. They’re from Iceland, and just sounded interesting. I called my brother Mike, who’s got pretty ecelctic tastes in music himself. I knew he’d be up for something different.
The show was this past Sunday night at 9:00pm. Honestly, I thought that was a little late for a Sunday night. I don’t have to get up in the morning, but my brother still works for The Man, so his morning call was a little earlier than mine. I let him know that if it got too late, or he just didn’t like the band, that we could go, too.
Like most shows, the opening act started half an hour late. The opening act was a guitarist by the name of Tom Rosseau. He had kind of a folk/country vibe to him. He was a little nasaly for my tastes, but he played guitar very well. I didn’t mind seeing him, but I’m not rushing out to buy his CD, either.
Anmiina started around 10:30. Their music has a very unique flavor to it. It’s similar to Enya I suppose, kind of new age, and very ethereal. I liked it a lot. The quartet used a variety of instruments from violins and cellos to saws and water glasses to make their sound. The ladies themselves didn’t seem comfortable on stage. They trade and switched instruments and locations a lot, so maybe the stage was a little small for them.
The foursome consisted of:
María Huld Markan - violin
Hildur Ársælsdóttir - violin
Edda Rún Ólafsdóttir - viola
Sólrún Sumarliðadóttir - cello
Man, I love Nordic names.
The big problem was the group of four people at the bar in the back of the room who just wouldn’t shut up. Like I said, the Cambridge Room is small, and there were maybe forty people in there. And while Amiina’s music was loud enough, the light, wordless music wasn’t enough to fill the room to drown those people out. After about four songs, someone who I think might be the band’s manager, got them thrown out. The concert was much better after that.
The ladies announced that they’d play a couple more songs, but it got late enough that Brother Mike needed to leave. That was fine, and we decided liked their music enough to buy a CD on the way out. Except there was no one at the table. That was a bit of a misstep, too. I would have thought that they might have realized that people may leave before the show, and they should have the table up and running.
Those quibbles aside, it was a good show and I found a new CD to check out. The band seems to have eighteen different websites and two names, but here’s the official one, at least according to the HOB website.