“It’s All Crazy!  It’s All False!  It’s All a Dream!  It’s Alright!”

That statement does more than just drop the name of the album they’re touring in support of.  It also describes the feeling amongst the crowd that came out to welcome mewithoutYou to Indianapolis.  Of course, they didn’t come alone.  Along for the short 10-date ride includes Murder By Death and Buried Beds.  It seemed appropriate that mewithoutYou would choose the Earth House as their Indianapolis venue.  It’s a place within what looks like a centuries old church in the Lockerbie Square, featuring an organic and fair trade coffee shop and promoting conservation around Indy.  Seemed appropriate for the band that tours around the country in a vegetable oil-powered bus.

I’ll admit, I don’t listen to either of these bands that much and I’ve never even heard of the first one (case in point, the most I’ve really listened to mewithoutYou is frontman Aaron Weiss’ cameo in Norma Jean’s “Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste”).  Heck I make it out to an indie show maybe once in a bloom moon.  Maybe it’ll be alright though.  Sometimes it’s good to get away from the norm (metal shows mostly).  So after wondering if where I parked my car was even legal and supporting my local free trade coffee shop, it was time to head upstairs to where the concert would take place.

Buried Beds is up first.  Before going in I knew of their name and that’s about it.  However, I live for discovering new bands at shows so I’m anxious to hear what they can do.  Unfortunately I missed the first half of their set due to other things I had to do beforehand.  Yes, they were the first band, and yes the mostly high school to college-aged crowd was fairly lifeless, but there were a few signs of life out there (mostly one person dancing with a little kid).  I will also make of note of saying I’ve never seen so many drums on stage.  Aside from playing their usual instruments (guitars, bass, keys), they also had their own floor tom, a nice little twist for an indie band.  Overall, not a bad way to kick off the show.  I’ll have to check out more from them in the future before I can accurately rate them, but for now, not bad at all.

One note on the room, it reminds me a lot of the Egyptian Room if it were 1/3 the size and lacking the fancy decor.  You even climb up two flights of stairs to get there.  Actually I’m pretty sure the room was an old worship center with a big wooden ceiling and drapes over the stained-glass windows to help with the room acoustics (as well as block out the light).  Enough talk about rooms.  Murder By Death is next.  They’re currently touring in support of their new album “Good Morning, Magpie.”

The inner skeptic in me was wondering how they would be able to perform their songs live.  Normally bands that use that many layers on their records end up sounding flat live.  However, these Bloomington natives are complete pros.  You don’t survive 10 years in the music world without knowing how to do everything.  They had a touring keyboard/trumpet/accordion player join them whenever needed, and of course they’ve got Sarah Balliet on cello, so maybe my skepticism is unnecessary.  Their show featured everything you would want from them: favorites old and new, a passionate fan standing beside me dancing and singing his heart out, a cover of “Bang Bang” (appropriately, “Kill Bill” is on TV as I write this), and enough songs about whiskey and sin in a church as you could possibly handle.  All seemed well until the unexpected happened:

During the middle of “On the Dark Streets Below,” the PA went out.  Frontman Adam Turla jokingly said to the crowd that it was a big dramatic pause and that when the music resumes, it would be “really f@#king intense.”  Thankfully, the problem was resolved and they continued like nothing ever happened.  Again, this goes back to being complete pros at what they do.  They handled the situation so well they did it again several songs later (heck, the lights even went out this time).  This time around, they decided to pass the time telling slightly dirty jokes (after all, they were performing in a church).  Was it a case of divine intervention that caused the PA to go out?  Maybe they just rocked too hard?  Perhaps I’m a jinx to sound systems at small venues (the PA went out at Rhino’s during the Haste The Day show I went to in June).  Either way, it was a very crowd-pleasing performance and may very well have stolen the show (and for the sake of this review, I’ll just assume it was the second reason).

Time for the main event.  While MDB gathers their stuff and moves off the stage, mwY sets up.  As all this is going on, some people move downstairs to the merch tables in the coffee shop.  Others decide they need to sit down and decide to park it on the floor.  It’s been a while since their last trip to the Circle City.  Let’s see what they can do.

The show featured about what you would expect from a mwY show: favorites old and new (ranging from the older, somewhat harsher sounding “January 1979″ to the newer calmer “The Fox, The Crow, and the Cookie”), almost more shouting from a singer than most hardcore punk shows and happy dancing/jumping/singing fans that harmonized perfectly with Aaron Weiss (not on purpose).  Hey, it’s been a while since these guys played in Indy, and the crowd’s enthusiasm definitely reflects that.  They were mostly lifeless throughout the night, but the room was instantly energized when they took the stage.  It was almost like they would demand an encore after the final notes of “Allah, Allah, Allah” rang out…

…And an encore they would receive.  After hearing the chants of “one more song!” echo through the packed room, mwY was more than happy to indulge the crowd in the time-honored tradition (though they did admit they had an encore planned, but does anyone really care about that?  No?  Okay let’s continue).  mwY gave us not just one, but two songs for this.  Buried Beds’ Eliza Jones came out for “In a Sweater Poorly Knit” to provide guest vocals.  Sadly, all good things must come to an end.  The show ends following this song and now it’s time to head home, or at least the merch tables downstairs.

Overall, a very enjoyable show for someone who doesn’t normally make it out to indie shows.  Did this show sway me into wanting to check out more like this.  Maybe.  A few things were made certain though: I remember why I love small venue shows so much; I remember why it’s good to venture outside the musical norm from time to time; I know why an old friend from high school cites Murder By Death as a huge influence on his music; and I definitely know why almost everyone I know who likes mewithoutYou really likes them (none of this bandwagon stuff I see so much of these days).  Who knows when we’ll see mwY again in Indy.  Was it really three years well worth the wait?

Absolutely.  For better effect, I’ll paraphrase:

It’s not crazy.  It’s all true.  It’s all a reality.  It’s alright.