The Speedy Ortiz and Ex Hex co-headlining bill was an excellent match-up — noisy and biting respectively — at the Hi-Dive in Denver on Thursday.
It’s tempting to write this review and ignore gender, because it doesn’t and shouldn’t matter. But we all know there were a lot of women on the stage Thursday night and, more importantly, they were women who can prove misogynistic jerks wrong. That’s not their job, though. That was just a satisfying feeling at the end of the night. All we can expect from and is to rock, which of course, they did.
The bands are touring together, co-headlining in an excellent match-up. (And local opener Accordion Crimes was an extra smart booking choice.) Ex Hex, up first, worked the room like the pros they are. Indie-rock veteran Mary Thomas is still a nimble-fingered ball of energy at the age of 43, putting her technical ability from years of jazz training and more experimental past work. All of that is behind her, though, and with two powerhouses on bass and drums — Betsy Wright and Laura Harris — this band delivers fun, straight-forward rock. Thomas recently told Reverb,that she wanted to “make music thatap really fun and that I want to listen to over and over again.” She nailed it.
At one point in the show, someone said, “They’re good, but it’s nothing original.” Fine, maybe, but so what? Is good not… good anymore? Ex Hex’s performance was energetic, charismatic and tight. Watching Wright and Thomas come forehead-to-forehead over and over again never loses its charm. They played better than your local band of dudes with guitars and impressed under the more intense scrutiny that comes when band members are in possession of breasts.
Where Ex Hex is sharp and biting, Speedy Ortiz is a more noisy assault. The band blazed through a set that moved smartly from old, to unrecorded, to newer material. Devin McKnight was excellent in his first Denver appearance with the band, standing in on guitar for Matt Robidoux, who is on indefinite hiatus. One of their new songs — the recently released “Doomsday” — was the standout of the set because everyone got a chance to stand out. The drums, bass and guitar all got a clear moment, as did Sadie Dupuis’ voice. A slower-burning, unnamed new song had the same appeal.
That’s the thing about a Speedy Ortiz show. If you’ve seen the band live a few times, you know that there’s something lacking in comparison to the records. It’s Dupuis’ voice. Her vocal melodies are what really hold Speedy Ortiz’s songs together. Without it, their music a nearly impenetrable wall of noise. That’s great, because if you can pick out the parts, you hear that there’s a lot going on. The noise is intricate and interesting, not to mention wholly satisfying when you let it drown you. It’s loud and distorted, and there are experimental tendencies there. But still: More Sadie, please.
And more of this kind of show in Denver, please. It was cool as hell.
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Ashley Dean is an editor and designer for YourHub at the Denver Post and a regular contributor to Reverb.
