All it took was fresh, West coast rock to fill the with cheers and raucous applause on Friday night. On tour with chick indie-pop rockers , Rooney gave its young fans lots of love with its catalog of minor hits.
The leading ladies’ vocals of Eisley were sweet and soprano, but hard to hear. With melancholy tone, they convinced the audience that every lyric was emenating from the heart. “Let’s break the walls down/and find how to live/’cause you and I have/so much to give,” they sang in “A Sight to Behold.” With a cool confidence, they played songs from their new album, “The Valley.” The vocals, although harmonious and haunting, were drowned out because the mics were seemingly not turned high enough.
After impatient chants from the crowd, Rooney took the stage. “That Girl Has Love,” got people jumping to the hard-hitting drum line and staccato electric guitar. “Blueside” and “I’m Shakin’” let guitarist and vocalist Taylor Locke show off his shredding skills. Louie Stephens pounded the keyboards.
“Can’t Get Enough,” and “Only Friend” gave the band a chance to show off their newer, more “indie” style. With robust guitar and Ned Brower on drums, the crowd moved with every song. Bassist Brandon Schwartzel got a solo in the non-partisan political “Stars and Stripes.”
The guys came back for an encore in which Schwartzman and Brower traded instruments, and Stephens came from keyboards to play guitar for Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” It would have been the perfect high energy song on which to end, but they ended with “Not in My House,” with lyrics suggesting, “You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.”
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Taylor Coughlin is a Boulder-based writer and new contributor to Reverb.
Quoleena Sbrocca is a Denver photographer and new contributor to Reverb.
