Black Dog Prowl - Pet Clinic - Mirror Kisses - The Unruly -- Axum Lounge - Aug 25

If you want a thoughtful analysis of the bands tonight, leave now and come back Tuesday morning for my review of Dead Can Dance. Instead, this will be a quick glance at the Axum Lounge. This is another upstairs club akin to the Velvet Lounge or the old Red & the Black. It's clean and comfortable which is the biggest positive. The sound is not dazzling but has potential to be better than the Red & the Black was, but has a ways to go to get to the Velvet Lounge standard. It is nice that the set times were listed on the website with the first two bands going on at 9pm and 10pm supposedly. And that was a downer, as the first band started at 9:49, the second at 10:59. Maybe not overly late (although I would say it is for four bands), but a lot of waiting time in a bar which is not my favorite thing to do (see below).

After the Unruly played a rather uncreative, but adequate blues based mid-tempo rock set, an electronic duo took 36 minutes to set up with a big light show curtain and frame behind the electronic drums. The booking agent should have had this act on first to get the setup out of the way and have more similar themed bands linked thereafter.  The crowd was fairly attentive which is good, but there was that weekend vibe that I am slowly finding myself not liking as there is no concept of a weekend for me anymore (again, see below). I quickly bailed on the Mirror Kisses as their retro electropop sound was really annoying me after the long wait. Sorry I couldn't see the next two bands as I think they are pretty good from what I have heard in the past.

So a mixed review for the Axum Lounge, but it does have potential as a second-tier place to play and maybe even better.

Quote of the Night: "Cheers." Well maybe he said that. This guy made a big production out of buying seven or eight shots for his friends and even ensuring a lime slice was in each tiny glass. After the toast, he downed his, immediately scrunched his face up, held his hands to his mouth to try to keep in his stomach contents and tore down the steps and outside the club. The staff got the mop out pretty quickly, although their wasn't much evidence he lost much. Just further evidence of why I need bands playing on stage, fast, furious, and timely so that I spend less time reminding myself why I can't stand sitting around in bars.