Mid October, Performance Review

While surfing around on ReverbNation, looking for new music and shows in my area to attend, I stumbled upon a band called Mid October. They are a local rock band from Atwater, California. I am a harsh critic on local talent because, honestly, there is a reason that not everyone makes it big time. After listening to a couple songs, though, I really wanted this band to succeed. They have the kind of sound that is, yeah, a little inexperienced, but they are going to sound amazing someday. That little bit of hope was what got me out of the house to go see the next show they were in. It wasn't far, so I grabbed my camera and hoped they were even more amazing live.

They started the show off kind of late because they forgot to bring cords. Yes, the cords that plug everything in. That's okay, the delay gave me time to get some nachos and a pitcher of beer, and admittedly played a couple games of bowling. Yes, I said bowling. When the band finally started they joked about how they were playing a "real classy" show. A downtown bowling alley, could it get classier? 

They begun to play and I was so excited by their sound, until the vocalist began to sing. It's not that he was bad, but you could hear he hadn't warmed up enough and he was a bit nervous. He was hardly audible over the music during the first song, it was like listening to real pretty mumbling. Sure it sounded alright, but I had no idea what he was saying. Which was a total 180 from what he sounded like on the recordings. 

As the show continued, he loosened up a little more each song, but what really brought him out of his shell was when they did a cover to "Call Me Maybe." It was nice watching him really come alive. Unfortunately, they returned to playing their own songs and away he went again. They played another cover later in the show, "ET," originally by Katy Perry, and it was the same as before. So I don't know if he is just nervous about the crowd's reception of his songs, or if he hasn't practiced enough to be confident in them. I will say one thing, though: I want to see this band again in a couple months. I can see and hear the potential that they posses, they just need to finish refining it.