Caravan Palace

I live about three blocks from the famous 9:30 Club. I have for almost a decade now. And soon enough I won't. Yet I've never been until tonight. It's a bit like New Yorkers never going to see the Statue of Liberty. I almost went to see Apocalyptica a few years back, but they had two opening acts and the main attraction wouldn't start until midnight on a Tuesday night with no seating. But I wanted to go before I moved so I started looking for someone worth going to see. They have shows almost nightly. But which one was worth it?

One of my friends suggested seeing the Caravan Palace show last night. I went in with no idea what to expect. Stood around with a bunch of other people for an hour. The music they chose to play before the show was promising. The instruments were more than the selection of guitars I've come to expect from concerts. A clarinet, a double bass, a violin, drums limited to a snare and cymbal, a xylophone, one electric guitar, a few keyboards, and a laptop.

The best way I have to describe their music is techno swing (I see online that it's considered electro swing and gypsy jazz. I'm close!). The band consists of six guys on instruments and a female singer. And they seemed to be having a great time. I don't know if this is their first time in America, but during the encore one of the band members decided he wanted to try crowd surfing. The rest of the band cracked up, so clearly this wasn't normal.

They're still early in the tour. Check out if they'll be in your neighborhood at http://www.caravanpalace.com/. I'd go again.