The third installment of the Good Records curated Live at Louie’s summer concert series took place on Saturday night, and Dallas’ The Polyphonic Spree and their faithful followers were out in full force.
For their first Fort Worth show in more than three years the choice of venue seemed a bit strange for The Spree, but once inside Bar Louie (2973 W 7th St, 817-566-9933) it was easy to see that the place took steps to transform the bar into a legitimate venue for live music. The massive bar slicing down the middle of the room cut off the view of the stage for a good number of people who were obviously there for the show. But as opposed to ignoring those on the blind side of the bar, the event planners used the bar’s numerous televisions around the room to broadcast the show throughout the building. A nice touch for sure.
As the 10 p.m. scheduled start time came and past with a white sheet still draped across the front of the stage, hiding the contents held within, you could hear quite a few questions being asked among the crowd. “How many of them do you think there will be?” “What color robes will they wear?” “Do you think they will play any covers?” Just before 10:30, the show started and those questions began to be answered.
Sheet still in place, the house music faded out and the band started playing an instrumental intro while someone, presumably Polyphonic lead singer Tim DeLaughter, began spelling out a word across it starting with the last letter and working backwards. E… T… A… and so forth. Finally the word “CELEBRATE” was scrolled across the stage and the music had swelled to a roar. Seconds later the sheet was sliced in half and pulled away from the stage revealing the 15-piece band (by my last count, though I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few members tucked towards the back of the stage hidden from my vantage point).
The celebration continued from there as the Spree barreled through their 75-minute set featuring crowd favorites such as “Light & Day” from 2002’s The Beginning Stages of… and “Hold Me Now” from their 2004 album Together We’re Heavy. As I looked around it was an almost surreal experience. A vast majority of the people were dancing and singing along. Had the band converted some of the normal West 7th crowd into true believers?
About a half hour into the set I decided to make my way up to Bar Louie’s rooftop to check out the vibe from the bar above. Surprisingly, the televisions on the roof were also showing the video feed of the show downstairs and the usual windows-to-the-wall grooves that the place usually pipes was replaced by the stage audio. The rooftop crowd didn’t seem to be as enthralled as the congregation downstairs, but there were more than a few people standing around the TVs singing along to Polyphonic’s cover of “Live and Let Die” by Wings.
As I returned downstairs, I was reminded why the name of the venue or any reputation it might have garnered has very little to do with how great a show can be when a band and it’s audience are truly in sync. As the troupe launched into “Something in the Air” by Thunderclap Newman, it was almost as if the entire audience were Polyphonic Spree members, somehow all singing along as though the lyrics had been passed out to them earlier in the night. A celebration for sure.
The Live at Louie’s Summer Concert continues June 26 with Black Joe Louis and runs through the end of July. For more info click here.
