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Not to say that opening act Jones Street Station stole the country-tinged show Friday night at the Granada, but for me the best moment of the night came when the 5 members joined at the front of the stage to sing their closing number with 5-part harmonies and 1 guitar --all sans amplification. They not only pulled it of, but they nailed it. The packed Granada crowd that had been talking throughout most of their set grew so silent it only served to make the final roar all the more deafening.Before Friday I was pretty unfamiliar with Jones Street Station, but I must say I was pretty impressed. The Brooklyn boys unique layering of instruments including mandolins, accordion, keys, acoustic guitar, and a specialized belt that contained harmonicas in seemingly every key. Their rambunctious sound at times bordered on such convincing Southern Gospel that it was hard to imagine it originating from a bunch of New Yorkers.
Just because he's touring in support of his country-flavored Changing Horses disc didn't stop Ben Kweller from pulling several older pop tunes out of his bag. He began the night with local favorite "Commerce, TX" and closed the night with fellow Sha Sha cut "In Other Words" as an unplanned second encore as most of the Granada crowd has already filed out. In between he flawlessly ripped through numbers from all four of his solo records on an acoustic guitar, and despite the fact that most of the lead parts were covered by a pedal steel player they sounded surprisingly faithful to the album versions.
On a Side Note: If you are not a follower of the Granada Theater on Twitter, I highly reccommend you add them at once. The Tweet-and-Greet they hosted with Ben prior to the show was revealed only through their Twitter feed, and as such was not particularly well-attended --not that I'm complaining as it gave the few fans that showed up plenty of time to chat with Ben and take pictures without feeling to rushed or rude.
Just a Heads Up: If you notice the handsome dude pictured with Ben is wearing the new SubEx shirts which will be available for purchase and/or surprise bonus giveaways in the very near future, so keep an eye out!
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