Cymbals Eat Guitars @ Logan Square Auditorium, Chicago, IL
Live Reviews | Sep 9th, 2009
Date: September 8th, 2009
Band Link: www.myspace.com/cymbalseatguitars
Presented by The Empty Bottle
“I like bright light; I get scared in the dark”
It was with that phrase that Cymbals Eat Guitars’ singer Joseph D’Agostino essentially introduced the band and started the set. Opening with the six minute “And the Hazy See,” Cymbals Eat Guitars wasted no time getting into a ferocious pace.
The band seemed suited for the auditorium space with their instruments and vocals layering over each other to combine an ethereal atmosphere of sound. Delving into songs off their self-released Why There Are Mountains, the band might be described as having musical ADD. Not following your typical verse/chorus/verse format, CEG seem quite content building up climaxes at the beginning, middle, and end of a song and then breaking it all down again. Their closer “Wind Phoenix” had everyone stomping and shaking in unison beat for beat.
With every song it was interesting to watch how each member played. D’Agostino is baby faced and it literally surprised me how feverish his playing was. Wearing a bandana across his forehead it’s easy to believe he was channeling some guitar god, like Hendrix. But then with statements like that I might be getting ahead of myself. Throughout the crowd there were other guys also sporting bandana headbands. It could be a new hipster look but I like to think D’Agostino has his imitators. As they threw themselves into their set, it was refreshing to see smiles come across their faces, especially drummer Matthew Miller who could be mistaken for a college kid. It was then that I was reminded how young these guys are and that D’Agostino’s comment at the beginning of the show might not be that far off. They are just twenty-somethings living their dream on the road and having fun at it too.
