On Friday, Nashville's Diarrhea Planet brought their orchestral guitar pop punk arrangements, along with friends Music Band, to Asbury Lanes as they hit the East Coast on their way to NYC's Governor's Ball Festival. This was the fourth time I'd seen Diarrhea Planet in the area in the last two years or so, and frontman Jordan Smith mentioned several times that Asbury Lanes was his personal favorite East Coast venue.
Two New Jersey bands got things started with impressive sets. Asbury Park's gods opened with their psychedelic, a-bit-tighter-than-garage rock. With bands like The Parlor Mob and Black Jesuses on the members' résumés, it was no surprise that every band that took the stage after gods had to take a moment to praise their set. Similarly, Black Wine played a set ranging from pop to hard rock -- the band's trademark "no core" -- that made people put down their drinks and listen. Again, praise from the visiting bands was effusive.
The Nashville portion of the evening got started with garage-psych-and-roll trio Music Band. The band bring a bit of a southern twang to their sound that works really well. It was their first trip to Asbury Park -- maybe New Jersey -- and they couldn't say enough good things about the city, Asbury Lanes, or the Asbury Lanes staff. As the set ended, Diarrhea Planet's Evan Bird did some photo bombing from behind one of the amps and popped out to "Ice" Music Band guitarist Harry Kagan.
Diarrhea Planet took the stage and opened with "Separations" from 2013's excellent I'm Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams. Despite their name, Diarrhea Planet take their playing / performing very seriously. Guitarists Smith, Bird, Emmet Miller, and Brent Toler all get chances to play lead -- sometimes simultaneously -- and can fill a place like Asbury Lanes with arena-sized hooks. Smith is constant energy, bouncing around the stage or playing from his knees when not shouting lyrics along with his bandmates. In addition to songs off of the band's two LP's like "Babyhead," "Kids," "Cigarettes," and "Warm Ridn'," we got crowd favorite and first-ever Diarrhea Planet song "Ghost With a Boner" and a new song or two.
Yesterday, Diarrhea Planet were in New York taking their close-up with an early slot at the Governor's Ball Festival. Tonight, they go a little more intimate with an officially-sanctioned GovBall after-party at Glasslands in Brooklyn. Let's hope we made them feel welcome enough in Asbury that they'll come see us again.
Here are some pics. Check Flickr for more.
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