Bears, Bells, Yachts, Football,...

I know it will probably take you a while to sift through all of the bands with the name Bear in it because  anything having to do with bears or bells seems to be the popular choice for indie groups these days. But to help you out, look for the guy with the porn stache and you will come across Bear in Heaven. Now I dont know if I had just psyched myself out with disgust over all of the bands with bear in their name or if I had simply played their first album way too many times but I wasn't that pumped for the show. I saw them at SX and Jon Philpot (lead) had shaved his stache and their performance suffered a bit because of it. It also didnt help that it was during the day, I was drinking free wine, and they had to follow the Japandroids but still.

Well this night when Philpot took the stage he made up for lack of facial masculinity by dressing up like George Michael, complete with a white Bear in Heaven t shirt and white skinny jeans! Props for wearing his own band's shirt btw. I mean, it's better than wearing some other band's shirt that we both know you never listen to anyway just to look cool. If you do not know them, they are a synth dance group with guitar and drums mixed in. Their music is better suited for a dark club with strobe lights so you can get the full effect, not so much for a daytime festival. So keep that in mind when going to check them out.

On this night, they brought it! They played mainly new stuff but all of their new songs are amazing and build upon what they started with the first album. It just seems like the majority of the songs on their new album have more layers than it's predecessor so it's not just the same beat for 4 to 5 minutes. Some of the new album's highlights are World of Freakout, Sinful Nature, and Reflections of You which ends with Philpot begging you "dance with me, dance with me". After which he goes into full on Wham mode and for a second makes you think that dancing like a middle aged white guy in the 80's is actually cool. Speaking of, when did white girls learn how to booty shake? Was it all those Cash Money videos or are all of these Kill Whitey parties( I referenced this in my last post) actually working? Well if you do decide to go to their show, hope that they also play You Do You and their incredible cover of Lindstrom and Christabelle's Lovesick. 6 minutes of awesomeness!

The only problem with the show was the crowd. In Austin sometimes you get the too cool for school kids who literally will stand there wearing their hipsters glasses , their arms folded, and will refuse to move! It's like they are there for an art exhibit! It was soo bad that when Bear in Heaven came on stage, they didnt even cheer or applaud. It was as if the sound guys had come on stage and not the band themselves. Did the Parish fly in a bunch of scrubs from Soho for the show? Was their sole purpose to kill all of the fun in the place to guarantee that I wouldn't get laid? Oh well, it didnt matter. I forced some young lady I met to come with me in the middle of these geeks to get the dance party started. I give Bear in Heaven and their shows a rating of FRESH!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbsUqGJ2qmw