Article and Photos by: Michael W. Bright
Louisville, KY — One of the few true four day weekends on this year’s calendar created a grand opportunity for Headliners in Louisville. Typically folks whose home base is here come flocking back for exaggerated meals with family, shots with friends, and wild ambitions for the weekend. The club lined up four bands on a Saturday night for a sold-out fourteen plus show, delivering sumptuous over-stuffed post-holiday excess. It was the entertainment equivalent of letting your belt out a few notches.
Sold-out means 725 ticket holders were lined up and ready to shake off the turkey and stuffing for alternative artistry from Anemic Royalty, Wicked Garden, Boa (USA) and White Reaper. While the two opening bands got a warm welcome, two Louisville based bands, Boa and White Reaper, would be the night’s entree.
The ravenous locals swarmed forward and started to spill over the barriers that left six feet between the crowd and the stage, creating a well-intentioned and manageable challenge for club security. Boa’s guitarist Logan Hopkins spun and whirled like a wizard sliding into one soul-psych groove after another, digging into their October EP release, No Bad Days. Boa’s energy launched the first of a half-dozen crowd surfers, and as the band disappeared, the last drop of the sold-out crowd had seeped into the club and was making a beeline to the front, as much as space would allow.
White Reaper had already forged a well earned reputation as stellar headliner, touring nonstop from October until the end of January (see whitereaperusa.com). Kicked off by brilliant marketing (their first LP is called, THE WORLD’s BEST AMERICAN BAND), their recipe of great songwriting, sheer presence and high octane fueled the second half of their set. Their show culminated in an epic surf, a long strange trip of singer/guitarist Tony (to his friends, that’s it, just Tony) floating across the top of the crowd to the far bar for a shot, then passed back overhead for a return trip to the stage and… an end to the celebration of the evening’s feast. And the assembled gave thanks, praise and ovations. AMEN.