Towards the end of their headlining set, Memoryhouse asked the crowd at Crowbar how they could resist going to any of the Sunshine State’s many amusement parks every day. The answer is so that we can save our money and energy for shows like the one that went down last night. Lord knows we like late starts and this show was no exception.

Just after 10 p.m., Tampa’s own King of Spain took to the stage in front of about 70 people and warmed the crowd up with songs from his 2008 effort, Entropy. The band has played a multitude of venues in the Bay area, but vocalist/guitarist Matt Slate and bassist Daniel Wainright definitely look like they belong on the stage at Crowbar. Positioned on opposite sides of the stage, the right-handed Slate and left-handed Wainright (who plays his bass upside down) powered through a brief five-song set that included rousing versions of “Emotions” and what Slate called a remixed take on “Animals Pt. 1.” While it’s great to hear King of Spain play the patio at New World, their complex future-folk definitely sounds better when it’s absorbed within the dark walls of Ybor City’s finest indoor venue.

While King of Spain may have had the crowd’s attention (with a little head bobbing to boot), it was Millionyoung that got them off of their barstools. The South Florida based duo went on at 10:45 and had more than a handful of people dancing in front of the stage just a few cuts into their eight-song set. Mike Diaz, accompanied by another guitarist, seamlessly switched from song to song and the crowd (which seemed to have swelled to well over 150 people) suddenly found themselves at what felt like a full-blown, pulsating dance party. As Diaz & Co. flailed and bounced onstage, you couldn’t help but think that the band could easily perform the same energetic set whether they were practicing in a basement, playing in front of 200 kids in a night club, or standing before 10,000 gyrating bodies at a festival. To say that they set the bar for the rest of the show would be an understatement.

As the crowd let the air conditioning dry up their sweaty shirts, Brooklyn’s Twin Sister set up and took the stage at around 11:30. What followed was a mellow, 45-minute, eight-song set that found the band being very meticulous with the mix in the monitor, but finally settling in by the time the set’s third song – “Eastern Green” – came along. The song is the perfect example of the laid-back, thick, tone that Twin Sister achieves both onstage and on record. Despite the aural gooeyness coming off the stage, the thing that makes the band memorable is frontwoman Andrea Estella. She admitted to losing some of her voice “screaming at Universal Studios,” but watching Estella work her way through the set’s best track – “Milk & Honey” – was definitely the most awkwardly captivating sight of the evening. She seemed to live in every song, by the end of the set her hair, which was up when Twin Sister came on, looked wind-blown and clustered, the look of a hard night's work for sure.

For some reason or another, a healthy portion of the audience dispersed by the time Memoryhouse came on for their 12:30 set. What they missed was a snapshot of a band on the rise. They may be riding high on an EP that with only four songs on it, but the Ontario based trio made the most of their time on stage, and if Twin Sister’s frontwoman is captivatingly awkward, than Memoryhouse’s Denise Nouvion was simply captivating in the most powerful sense. She commands attention with just a microphone in her hand, and the crowd was happy to oblige her during the ten-song set (which ended with a Grizzly Bear cover). The band thanked the crowd for "kind of moshing" and cruised through chilling versions “To the Lighthouse”, “Sleep Patterns”, and “The Waves”, which clearly benefits from the addition of touring guitarist Adrian Vieni, who adds precision and depth to the already stellar track from The Years EP.

A lot has been made of the visual aspect of Memoryhouse’s live show, and they even played a brand new song from their limited-release photobook/LP, but one of the more surprising things about the band’s set was how their music completely trumped the Jamie Harley produced footage that was playing in the background. Despite beautiful images dancing on the small projection screen, it was more enjoyable to just zone out and listen Nouvion, Vieni, and Evan Abeele work through the sounds of what looks to be a very promising career. A lot of bands can get lost in the hype, but Memoryhouse recently told REAX that they are a band ready to move forward. By the look and sound of their set on Thursday, it seems like they certainly are.

Photos By: Philip Pietri

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Photos By: Brian Mahar

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.