Pretty Girls Make Graves - Denver, CO

Denver, Colorado is not a huge city. It is, however, a very laid back liberal city and makes up for what it lacks in size with great artistic and cultural appreciation. For many indie and punk rock musicians, I suppose Denver is a bit of a safe haven of a tour stop, which in some cases can result in bands simply going through the motions on stage. Such was the case Saturday night downtown at the Marquis Theater when indie veterans Pretty Girls Make Graves stopped by to play some songs off of their latest album called Elan Vital. It wasn't that the show was bad, or that it looked as if they didn't want to be there; but rather, it seemed that the band was a little too comfortable, if such a phenomenon can exist.

Perhaps they were a bit intimidated having to follow stellar performances from opening bands You Say Party, We Say Die and The Joggers. Singer Andrea Zollo had a blown away glee and praised the other bands laughing and sounding apologetic as if her band may not be able to rock us in the same way. She also, at times, seemed a tad bit displeased with the sound, asking the soundboard operator on several occasions to turn up the bass, or turn down the guitar throughout the show. Luckily most people were there to see them, and they were all showing their undying affection for PGMG by dancing around and throwing up their devil horns, although I never really considered PGMG a devil horns kind of band.

PGMG played through most of the new album and nailed just about every song and every note. In that respect, they sounded impressively polished and prepared. By the time they got to "The Nocturnal House," everyone was in tune. Zollo, sporting a straight out of the eighties jet black hair style with her bangs just shading her eyes, sang flawlessly and pranced through her favorite stage moves holding her microphone by the bottom and waiving it in the air. Guitarist Jay Clark carried the band rhythmically throughout the night, while recent addition and multi-instrumentalists Leona Marrs impressed us all with her fresh skills on the keyboard, accordion and many other neat little instruments. Unfortunately, "This is Our Emergency" was played with no emotion and the band sped right on through it. The new songs were obviously the ones they wanted to play, and all in all, they did a good job as "Pyrite Pedestal" and "Selling the Wind" were performed with more energy than what had been displayed most of the show, feeding the fans with just enough to keep them into it.

After a fairly short set, Zollo announced that they would be playing their final song, but we all knew she was lying. The encore was probably the best part of the show as the band finished us off with a loud and exciting performance of "Speakers Push the Air" off of the Good Health album. Just as it seemed that the band was starting to have some fun, the show came to an end. All I can say to that is maybe, just maybe, they should have picked a couple of less entertaining openers.