Holidays on Call

Fortunately, once The Trolleyvox came on stage, the evening improved significantly. The Trolleyvox sounded to us like Dolores O'Riordan singing over the music of 10,000 Maniacs, with a noticeable Elvis Costello influence. Next up was The Brakes (MySpace), apparently a last-minute addition to the lineup. The Brakes blend elements of indie, jazz, R&B, and just about anything and everything else into their music. (At one point, band member Adam Flicker was playing piano with one hand and trumpet with the other; we were impressed.) Just before the Brakes came on stage, we were itching to see Fooling April and Matt Duke, so if they weren't really good, we probably would have been massively annoyed by their set. Fortunately, they were really good, and they made enough of an impression that we'll happily check them out again.

Next up was Matt Duke. We've got to admit, we kind of fanboy for Matt Duke. We've now seen him perform three times this year, and he's been nothing short of outstanding every time. Thursday night's performance was the best we've seen. It was more on the electric side than the last time we saw him. He also seems to be coming more into his own as a performer, playing with more confidence than before and really owning the stage. Duke is heading into the studio next month and he played a few songs from the forthcoming album, and now we're really looking forward to it. And he's also really responsible for getting us into the holiday mindset, as he closed his set with a cover of one of our favorite rock-n-roll Christmas songs, The Kinks' "Father Christmas."

Finally came Fooling April, the guys responsible for a lot of the Philly Locals Lonely Hearts Club Band concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. (As an aside, we just noticed that Sgt. Pepper has only a 4.5 star rating on Amazon. Who dared to give that album anything less than 5 stars???) Fooling April had us at the proverbial "Hello," starting their set with a brief version of "Linus & Lucy" from A Charlie Brown Christmas. (Vince Guaraldi's amazing music from the special is, bar none, our favorite holiday music.) They then launched into their own music, which is really great piano rock, and with the popularity of the genre in recent years, we really cannot figure out how on earth Fooling April hasn't been signed to a major label yet. We feel like it's only a matter of time. Unfortunately, we have commitments that will keep us from checking out their next two live performances (this Friday at Milkboy Coffee in Ardmore, and December 18 at Brownies 23 East, also in Ardmore), but they are absolutely worth checking out.

We really couldn't have asked for more from Fooling April and Matt Duke, except to play another of our favorite rock Christmas songs. Oh wait, they did, teaming up to perform a cover of the U2 version of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" for their encore. Suffice it to say, we left World Cafe Live very happy Phillyists. To see a bunch of pictures from the evening, just click on the image of Fooling April's Brian Kenneth in the lead of this post.

Image via Flickr user Triborough.