The show last Friday night was big fun. Luna’s is a great place to see music. The headliner, Anton Barbeau (learn more), has finally returned from “across the pond” and he played a lot of recent material from his new “Plastic Guitar” album. He left out the old classics (Banana Song, Drug Free, Third Eye, etc) but his new material was strong. Weird (let’s say quirky) in spots, as he usually is, but good.
He shared the stage with local singer Allyson Seconds for at least half of his set. He recently produced and wrote her new CD and they performed a number of songs from it, all of which sounded very good. Clever and catchy folk-pop songs, nice harmonies, good stuff. Their duet on Leave It With Me, I’m Always Gentle would have been perfect except for the whistling. Haha! Their voices worked well together on all their songs and Anton was content to showcase her warm voice. As an example, they did one of his odder tunes, On A Bicycle Built For Bicycle Nine, and make it sound smooth and irresistable. Next time they perform together, don’t miss it.
Also on the bill were Julie Swan and Brian Valenzuela. Julie’s songs were well-received, especially the cover song she ended with. Brian showed off his new technology, recording musical parts on the fly and playing along with them. But for us, Anton and Allyson were the stars of the evening.
And we got some crappy cellphone pictures too! (After the jump)
