The weather tried to ruin Moon Taxi’s big weekend concert at the Tennessee Theatre, but the concert’s postponement to Sunday night fortunately did nothing to dampen fans spirits.
The show began with house and stage lights completely off and all we could see was their outlines moving across the stage to their instruments. The audience knew what was about to happen and just seeing shadows produced a restless jittering in everyone.
The first song started and red lights shot out into the audience. Drums were pounding and the keyboardist was jamming away at the keys. They kept going that hard all night, or more accurately for the two hours in which the concert actually took place.
Listening to Moon Taxi’s album tracks does not even do their live concert justice. I went into the concert with expectations of what I’d heard from my computer — to like them but not love them. However, the first song they played shook the theatre.
Each band member took time for a solo throughout the night. Keyboardists might not get the most attention in bands, but it is a dubious proposition at best to claim that Moon Taxi’s keyboardist’s solo didn’t earn him the title of a rocker. It started off slow and very simple, but by the end he was jumping, slamming and sliding on the keys with the go ahead of the audience.
Lights from the stage flared in different ways and black and white strobes made the band look like they were skipping through time. But the coolest part was probably how they used bass that you don’t hear when you’re on your computer.
In the theatre, the seats were shaking and the sound resonated throughout the entire vaulted space. They knew what a live show was all about.
The whole crowd was standing the entire time ebbing back and forth like the sea, with the music acting like gravity from the moon. There would be times when the stage lights would turn to shine out and illuminate the entire audience while the band handed the singing over to the crowd.
That’s the point of a live show. It wasn’t about hearing the music exactly how it was on the record. You can do that anytime. The band and the audience wanted an experience.
Vocalist and guitarist Trevor Terndrup performed with the Nashville native band Moon Taxi on Sunday night at the Tennessee Theatre.
