The Chicago band North by North rolled into Atwater Village as part of their 11 week tour. Club Tee Gee was waiting for the duo even if it was a Monday night, "Thanks for hanging out with us on a Monday. That's special." The duo includes Nate Girard on vocals and guitar and Kendra Blank on drums. Girard introduced the band by saying, "We're going to play some songs and we're going to sweat." Their sweating wasn't going to result in dehydration for this band. Each had a 1 gallon bottle of water within reach.
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| North by North at Club Tee Gee |
The band opened up the night with the blues rock "Bad Vibes." With some well timed screams and howls, the bad energized the crowd. Blank hit the snare drum with a power that no doubt could be heard on the other side of Glendale Blvd. Girard's guitar playing had that 70s sound that got you wanting to lift your arms upward with fists raised and shaking. If you barely wanted to head out on a Monday night to catch live music, this song had you realizing why you'd gone out.
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| North by North at Club Tee Gee |
Maybe break the chain, or break myself tonight
A comparison was made between Chicago and Los Angeles after the song as the band spent time toweling off their sweat, "It's cute. You have the heaters on outside." It was probably in the high 50s at the time. Hey, in SoCal, that is cold. The duo had a chuckle about us Californians. The band introduced the song "Rock & Roll Funeral" as being about "celebrating life." It might sound a little bit moribund of a song title, but the lyrics are about celebrating friendships, "And you feel out of place in the night. Well you know that we’re always here. And we’re ready to share a light."
Someone in that song was given a warning, but wasn't willing to walk away.
They called their song "Runner" their cowboy song. The band joked around about the fact that it was a Monday night, "What happened? Are you guys asleep?" Wait, it felt like everyone was pumped by their intensity. "I can't talk sh*t. I took a nap today. Sorry if you had to work. I'm well rested and feeling great. I'm flourishing." Of course, after making a comment about people not being awake enough, they mentioned that they were slowing things down with their song "My Friends (Will Hurt Your Friends)."
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| North by North at Club Tee Gee |
A comparison was made between Chicago and Los Angeles after the song as the band spent time toweling off their sweat, "It's cute. You have the heaters on outside." It was probably in the high 50s at the time. Hey, in SoCal, that is cold. The duo had a chuckle about us Californians. The band introduced the song "Rock & Roll Funeral" as being about "celebrating life." It might sound a little bit moribund of a song title, but the lyrics are about celebrating friendships, "And you feel out of place in the night. Well you know that we’re always here. And we’re ready to share a light."
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| North by North at Club Tee Gee |
The band did give a challenge to the crowd. They were impressed with the size of the disco ball hanging from the ceiling of the bar. "If you can tell us where you've seen a bigger disco ball, we'll give you a free sticker!" They weren't the only ones impressed with the disco ball. After North by North, a favorite band of mine came up next, Bruvvy. Lead singer Liz Varum had the crowd lift her up so that she could touch the disco ball. You can read my Dec 2024 blog post about that band here.
Partial Setlist: Bad Vibes, Get Weird, Runner, My Friends (Will Hurt Your Friends), Rock & Roll Funeral
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