What can I say- Two Gallants are one of the most consistently awesome live bands around. Their distinctive Americana-meets-Delta Blues sound isn’t normally my sort of thing at all, but this unshaven, slightly disreputable duo perform it with such rough-hewn vibrancy that they put all but a handful of other bands to shame. Adam Stephens' croaked, passionate howl and nimble fretwork are extraordinary enough, but the real star’s Tyson Vogel; a scrawny, wild-haired figure who ranks as the most amazing drummer (Battles’ John Stanier excepted) in the business. His unreal sense of rhythm (not to mention kit-obliterating forcefulness) is genuinely jaw-dropping, his arms flailing about in blur of drum-rupturing chaos. If the new songs seem too derivative of their older works to live up to expectations, then there’s enough classics scattered about the set to make for it- Steady Rollin’ prompted an audience-wide sing-along, and Las Cruces Jail instigated a minor riot near the front. It’s fantastic to see a band I first watched in front of 30 people command a crowd of over a thousand only two years later, and if there’s any justice in the world they’ll be playing to even more in years to come.
(Photo: Jacob Saunders (Flickr))
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