This past Friday, December 10th, I was lucky enough to finally get a chance to see April Smith and the Great Picture show live. The opportunity came with a late show at Maxwell’s in Hoboken. Openers for the evening included The Canon Logic and Elizabeth & the Catapult. The first opener, The Canon Logic, got things fired up early on, with a mini dance party even forming in the front of the room. Next, Elizabeth & the Catapult kept things going. Their sound seemed to fit better with April Smith (although I enjoyed the first band as well). It might have helped that Elizabeth & the Catapult are a female-fronted band with a similar style to April Smith (IMO). I thought Elizabeth had a similar quirkiness to April Smith and a lot of heart. Speaking of which, my heart was completely won over by the end of their set, due in large part to the charming lead singer.
That brings us to the main event, April Smith and the Great Picture Show. I did a review of their album over the summer where I raved about how unique and entertaining their sound was. This gave me high expectations for their live show, which I am happy to report were not disappointed in the slightest. April and band had a great stage presence. April Smith was charming and sweet and fun, but also strong as a vocalist. I thought she found the perfect balance of strength and sweetness. Overall the performance was solid and enjoyable. If you ever get a chance to see this band live, I encourage you to take it. I promise they will give you quite a show.
*I was going to use the end of this post to include a video I took from the show, but if you follow me on Twitter you will know I was having trouble with that. I promise to go back and edit later, but really wanted to get this up ASAP for your reading pleasure.
Edit: Sorry this took longer than I wanted it to, but all the video I took from the show is finally up on YouTube. I’m embedding my three favorites below as a sample, but you can view the rest on my YouTube page.
(Warning: that last one has a tiny little curse at the end, which you know if you are familiar with the song)