I made it in during Brian Bonz & The Dot Hongs’ set. Pretty good stuff actually. Brian has a very eclectic voice that is very refreshing to hear. This would be the theme that carried on throughout the night. They added a nice cover of “Superconnected” by Broken Social Scene to close out.

All four of the acts were very similar in style and musicality, but that makes sense as it is a fairly small tour and several of the groups were sharing equipment and members. Fairly small tour, sure, but I was surprised to see only a handful of indie kids show up for the show. There were definitely no more than 40 or so kids. I wish this show was at the late Mausoleum. It would have been a packed crowd!

The Miniature Tigers were up next. All four acts also used acoustic guitars, but these guys used one as a second guitar. Interesting. The music is a little too indie for my usual tastes, but the hooks were admittedly catchy and the drummer’s additional harmonies added a lot extra. The actual drum play was interesting as well. I’m pretty sure Id go see these guys again based on the singular fact that they are selling one of their shirt which features a Dharma logo. The front man also sported a Dharma sticker on his guitar. They also gave a shout out to Mai’s (although they mispronounced it)

Sarah Jaffe was definitely the show stealer for me, or at least my favorite. In my ignorance, I just figured she was the cute merch girl, but when she climbed on-stage with her acoustic and belted out her first few songs, I knew that she was something special. Its like if Adele was cuter, folkier, could play guitar and was from Texas. Sarah was accompanied by Robert Gomez, who added a very subtle mix of guitar, accordion, drums and vocal harmonies to her beautiful words. Check out her incredible EP “Even Born Again” out now.

The last time I saw Kevin, he opened up for Matt Pryor and was solo, this time around he had a full band and it was 100% better. It was a great time for the few kids that were there. His newest release Brother’s Blood is definitely one of my favorite releases of this year.

Next time any of these guys makes it through Houston, let’s bring more than 40 people!