Ever hear someone boast about how they once saw a now-great band in a small venue? Last night’s show at Mercury Lounge was one of those shows on three different levels. One of the opening bands, SAADI, which had only played a handful of shows together, stunned the early crowd with a tightly executed mix of poppy vocals and ambient guitar. A great rhythm section in Marcus Farrar on drums and AJ Lambert on bass backed lead singer Boshra AlSaadi’s quirky stage presence. SAADI’s exceptionally well-written music showed promise that will certainly pay off for them as an up-and-coming band.

Locksley, heavily featured on MTV, played second. With a sound that straddled the border of the Strokes and the Beatles, they traded lead vocals and executed perfect harmonies. (They even already have an established throng of female fans swooning in the crowd). That they were in the middle of a billing at Mercury Lounge was a bit of a surprise, but they played like it was Shea Stadium, somehow fitting 13 songs into a 40-minute set.

The Dig, a New York City group that is far less known than Locksley but carries just as much promise, however, stole the show. The band was the most powerful of the night, using heavy bass from Emile Mosseri in every song. David Baldwin’s guitar contributed to the strange mix of straight rock sound and fuzzy shoegaze, the latter complemented by Erick Eiser’s wickedly sweet keyboards. Baldwin and Mosseri traded lead vocals from song to song, but Mosseri’s voice was the standout, uniquely sharp and incredibly magnetic (at it’s best on “Penitentiary,” a song so catchy it begs to be licensed and heard everywhere). The Dig wrapped their set with “She’s Going to Kill That Boy,” a brash rocker akin to Cold War Kids, leaving the crowd listening to a band that sounded like they’d already made it big. —Sean O’Kane

Photos courtesy of Sean O’Kane | seanokanephoto.com

Photos courtesy of Greg Notch | photography.notch.org/music

(Photo: Sean O’Kane)

After more than 30 years in music, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band Lynyrd Skynyrd has earned the right to have a boisterous stage setup. Before their set even started, the stage boasted two acoustic guitars, three keyboards, a piano, two drum sets worth of drums, four flat-screen televisions and a logo that spanned about 20 feet. When all nine touring members took the stage last night at The Wellmont Theatre, they proved just why they’ve earned it by unleashing a set of megahits during a loud and thrilling set lasting longer than an hour.

They played every hit, from the honky-tonk “Gimme Three Steps” to the sweeping ballad “Tuesday’s Gone” (during which raised lighters actually outnumbered cell phones) to the darker grit of “That Smell.” With hardly any material the band has released in the last decade, the night was dedicated to the biggest and best of Lynyrd Skynyrd. All three guitarists constantly rotated solos in practically every song, often dueling back-to-back. Vocalist Johnny Van Zant roamed the stage while belting out each song, either laughing with his bandmates or engaging the crowd by reaching his microphone stand (adorned with a Confederate flag for half the set) over the seats.

As the first few plucky notes of “Sweet Home Alabama” signaled the beginning of the end, the crowd (a mix of people in cowboy hats, American-flag-branded clothing and, of course, Derek Jeter jerseys) roared with delight. When the band finished, they turned their collective attention to one thing, and for the first time ever at The Wellmont Theatre, the crowd actually yelled for “Free Bird” in the correct setting. —Sean O’Kane

(Photo: Listen Missy)

Whatever you do, don’t call them lo-fi. Immediate? Yes. Recorded with whatever’s on hand as quickly as possible without concern for microphone placement or levels? Yes. But their albums aren’t a reaction against over-produced commercial pop, like the pinnacle of lo-fi pioneers Sebadoh or Guided by Voices in the late ’90s, as much as they are about their process: making the method of capturing the sound another instrument to be played. Instead of bringing this hazy distortion to their live show, Times New Viking plays at a volume that your ears will interpret as in the red. The trio’s particular brand of overblown hiss on their recordings is turned into punk energy live, with Adam Elliott on drums creating surprisingly melodic harmonies with Beth Murphy on keys. The frantic momentum never lasts longer than a minute or two before Elliott calls out the next song on the set list and asks the audience for another beer.

Their attempt at pure spontaneity, to capture a particular moment, is evident even in guitarist Jared Phillips’ approach to the instrument. What’s a left-handed player to do in a right-handed guitar world? Play it upside down. Adapt. The drum kit is stripped down to the bare essentials. Elliott plays hunched over, nearly hitting himself in the head, taking the direction of each melody on his shoulders. It was almost shocking to hear Rip It Off when it was released on Matador Records last year—the sleeve art reflecting the cut-up, barely passable aesthetic of the group’s sonic endgame, which happily continues on their latest, Born Again Revisited. It’s a mistake to get bogged down with sonic textures because at the core they are melodic, catchy songs that sound even better played with the unrestrained force Times New Viking inflicts on a live audience. —Jason Dean

Photos courtesy of Dino Perrucci | dinoperrucciphotography.com

(See Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, above, playing “Trap Door”—last month during CMJ—broadcast on Seattle’s KEXP radio.)

Sonic Youth is a band that keeps moving forward. Sure, they put out their first album, Sonic Youth, way back in 1982. But their most recent effort—their 16th(!) studio disc—the aptly named The Eternal, was released this past June. Not resting on their laurels, they’re playing three local shows over the next eight days. Bad news: They’re all sold out. Good news: You can try to Grow a Pair of tickets to this Saturday’s Terminal 5 show from The House List. Just fill out the form below. List your name, e-mail address, which show you’re trying to win tickets to (Sonic Youth, 11/21) and a brief message telling us your best technique to cope with it getting dark so damn early. Eddie Bruiser, who’s basically nocturnal and doesn’t mind the encroaching darkness, will notify the winner by noon on Friday, November 20th. Good luck.

(Joshua Radin also plays The Wellmont Theatre on Saturday.)