Sunset Rubdown and Baker wow the crowd at the Middle East

The indie rock beats of Sunset Rubdown accompanied by Baker and solo artist Beaver were the epitome of fresh, exciting music that Middle East concert goers witnessed this past Saturday night in the happening Cambridge, MA venue. Whether you knew about the bands or not, the crowd was in for a pleasant surprise to a three hour event that definitely lived up to its billing.

While the concert began at 10 P.M., the atmosphere was lively, cheerful and joyous even after the show's conclusion well into the wee hours of Sunday morning. Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade led the way with his side project band, Sunset Rubdown, but yet - one could believe the chemistry with the band have been literally hitting the right notes for a long time. For the first segment of the Sunset Rubdown show, Cambridge, MA band, Baker, took the stage with a mission. Had one not been aware of the main performer of the night was, this band stole the show and had the masses all hooked to their sounds. The five member band that make up Baker, (Conan Skyrme, James Tracy, Nicole Boudreau, Andy Casey and Steve Lord) delivered a stirring hour long performance, with highlights like "Gotta Get Out Of The City" and "Reputation." The upcoming band, whose album is set to release in early 2007, certainly started the show in style. Still caught in the buzz and stir of the first band, when Beaver took stage for the middle portion of the program, it seemed as if the audience was in a state of confusion as to who was on stage. That set the tone for the solo artist, who has accompanied Sunset Rubdown in previous stops of their fifteen city tour, and shunned the audience which were divided with the listeners and the chatters who probably wished the headliners were on stage. While it is probably unfair to declare this portion of the concert as a complete disaster, it would be blind to note that his repertoire was weak and basically "notes of regret" in this artist's past experiences to his obsession of a former female acquaintance that left the crowd going, "Should we care or just pretend to listen to this forty minute set?" Finally when the clock struck 12, the quartet of Spencer Krug, Jordan Robson Cramer, Mike Doerksen, and Camilla Wynne Ingr, all hailing from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, took to the stage and instantly revived the faithful attendees who had waited four hours for the absolute premier part of the show. Even when the band played a new song that was not on their recently released LP, Shut Up I Am Dreaming , one could not help but feel nostalgia of new wave meeting rock…meeting xylophones. Crowd pleasers like "Stadiums and Shrines II," and "They Took A Vote And Said No," were the definite melodies that proved to be the highlight of the show.

The quartet provided an hour long performance that left everyone in the Middle East talking in the streets of Cambridge. Besides the pleasant surprise of a well behaved crowd that respected each other's space all night long, the one thing that could be taken away from the experience was that although the songs were not true stadium sing-alongs or radio hits, sometimes, it pays to be indie. And for the $12/15 dollar admission price, save for Beaver, it was a magical night that may have cemented the place of Baker and Sunset Rubdown as staying powers of the rock world of the future.