The Drunken Unicorn // Atlanta, GA // February 12
At 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 12th, a very slow trickle of music fans filtered into The Drunken Unicorn. Three bands were slated to play, but the crowd hadn’t arrived. With a line-up like Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun, The Cusses and Baby Baby, you would think people would be banging down the doors, right? But the night looked ominous. A worried merch girl made noises about the bad traffic, the million other things going on, all the romantic pre-Valentine’s Day crap all over town, how maybe this wouldn’t be the best night for a show. Oh, was she wrong…
Baby Baby started the night off with a rebel yell of “JORTS!!!” Four men got on stage, all decked out in cut-off jean shorts and little else, proclaiming, “Fuck winter! We’re dressed like it’s summer! Whatcha gonna do?!” Then they lit into a set of pure party rock. With grinding guitars, thumping bass, pounding drums and jokes about race, the suburbs and summer clothes, Baby Baby pumped the crowd into a frenzy that wouldn’t end till after Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun left the stage. The answer to their (potentially) rhetorical question, of course, was, “We’re gonna dance!”
The Cusses got on stage, sounding like Death From Above 1979 with a gorgeous female leader vibrating down the middle of the stage like David Byrne with a mean left hook. In the aftermath, one member of the audience said in an awed voice, “Did anyone else feel like she was about to jump off the stage and punch you in the face? Because I kinda did… and, well, that was kinda hot.”
Finally, Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun took the stage. TTMTTS gave life to all that is collaboration, rock and dance. They thanked their forerunners. They thanked their openers. They thanked their audience. They thanked each other. The crowd begged, pleaded and demanded, “ONE MORE SONG!” Sure, this happens at nearly every show in every city where kids want more party, but somehow it never gets old. After just enough pause and with just the perfect, “Aw shucks, you really like us?” grins on their faces, TTMTTS came back out and rocked the house down, just one more time.
-Amelia Shackelford
myspace.com/todaythemoontomorrowthesun