GREEN OWL
BY ARTISTS FOR ARTISTS
Grandchildren
Full Text
March 18th, 2010SXSW: West Philly’s Grandchildren Keep It Arty At Beauty Bar
Are they from West Philly? I hope so, because I know I keep saying it. I know a couple guys who used to be in the band and lived in Danger Danger House, but tonight when I peaked behind the curtain, I didn’t see either one of them. And, yes, they played behind a curtain. I took several pictures of it, but without a flash you couldn’t see anything, much less the images of smoke, flying doves, jellyfish-looking creatures living the life acquatic, waves and waterfalls being projected on it in front of where the band set up. The (admittedly terrible) photo you see here is with the flash, which washed out the images.
Those images were key. Grandchildren play a very tight, methodical but ethereal brand of Prog. Imagine Prog played by creatures living in the sea. Or something. I’m drunk. (Note to my bosses: I’m not really drunk.)
There were a smattering of people watching as the set began, and as it went on that smattering turned into something healthy. People were obviously drawn in. It might help that the beyond-terrible Juiceboxxx was playing the inside stage at Beauty Bar, but I like to think Grandchildren’s West Philly (I think) siren song sucked them out the door and into the back courtyard.
