During set at the Larimer Lounge last Friday night, whether nimbly arpeggiating through folky shimmer on a mic’d black acoustic or thrashing through bluesy riffs on a sunset red hollow body, Derek Fudesco seemed to lose himself constantly within the music. His long, unruly black hair slapped side to side or back to front, then stuck with sweat to the back of his neck and across his cheeks between songs after he stopped swaying and caught his breath for the next song.
And yet, for as violent as his abandon seemed while he played, the songs brought to mind glowing Huck Finn visions of floating down sun-drenched rivers or traipsing through meadows — peaceful pastimes, in other words. Frontman Pete Quirk’s shrill vocals and cherubic grins and Marty Lund’s understated drumming completed the trio as they played an hour of the light Americana thatap fueled their snowballing success since the band’s inception in 2007.
And, they were ecstatic to announce that, after almost six weeks, their Larimer appearance was their first sold-out show on this tour — a well-deserved, if surprisingly late, accomplishment.
They pulled the majority of the nightap set from this year’s release, “No Witch,” and further reinforced the solid confidence the songs exude. It was particularly evident in the rocking “Black Leaf,” a tune that had the entire room twitching and bouncing, though no one quite so fidgety as Quirk. The drawn-out psychedelic “Outer Realms,” grounded by Lund’s soft bongos, enveloped the stage in a Doors vibe, and then they switched gears easily into the pastoral “Distant Sures.” All the while the audience stayed right with them, and even egged them on so much the band played almost a second set after announcing their “last song.”
As the final set wrapped up, the bluesy guitar and marching washboard rhythms of “Dancing On Our Graves,” pushed the show to a new high point. Fudesco’s fiery guitar work laid a foundation for Quirk to become even more manic, jittering with Joe Cocker-like body language as he barked out the lyrics. The audience mirrored him with equal twitching, and then the whole place jumped one notch higher as the trio closed with the pounding “No Prosecution If We Bail.”
After the set, all three musicians hung out in the Lounge, welcome as regulars, as fans casually talked them up. The mixture of intimate venue with comfortable songs made the night seem more like a house party than a concert — a fitting place for Quirk and company to gel.
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Billy Thieme is a Denver-based writer, an old-school punk and a huge follower of Denver’s vibrant local music scene. Follow Billy’s explorations at , and his giglist at .
