After Thoughts: Royal Bliss - The Machine Shop; July 24th, 2009

Yesterday night at The Machine Shop I stopped in for a free show; a band I had never heard of, Royal Bliss, was playing, along with two other bands that I missed due to being a little late. But despite missing 2/3rds of the bands that played last night, I walked away extremely satisfied, energized, and just plain psyched. That feeling came from the headlining band, and the only one I saw. Royal Bliss.

The singer was just so full of energy, he was genuinely happy to be up on that stage performing. They all were, and it showed. They had fun, and in turn the crowd really got into things. They seemed to know how to work the crowd pretty well, and it made it all the better, getting all pumped up before the song, you just could help but move along with the music. Also worth mentioning, there was a completely kick-ass drum solo in the middle of one of the songs where the vocalist picked up a second pair of drumsticks and played along with the drummer. How awesome is that?

After listening to their album, I'm coming to the conclusion that they're one of the few bands that sound better live than they do on their CD. I could just feel the electricity from the stage, it was a crazy good time, and the lead singer was a pretty funny guy to boot. Not to say that their studio material is bad, not by any means. But you just can't beat that raw feeling that a good live performance gives.

Overall, what I got from that concert was respect. That was a group of people who loved what they did, and loved their fans, they where playing a free show for the people, and it's hard not to respect that. If you get the chance to go out and see them live, do it. You will not regret it. If the opportunity doesn't come up, at least check them out at their MySpace.