Mates of State @ Emo’s
Mates of State played at Emo’s in Austin tonight.
It was F-ing cold, they didin’t come on until almost midnight, the opening bands were kind of lame, and I can’t feel my toes…but it was well worth it.
I’ve been wanting to see these guys live for almost a year now, and they didn’t dissapoint. They are just as energetic in person as on their albums. The show was even more upbeat than I imagined, which could have something to do with this being their last show of the year.
They played mostly songs off of “Bring It Back”, but did throw in a couple of oldies at the crowd’s request. Kori and Jason were great at working the crowd. Bands that can engage the audience as well as they do, are few and far between. They stopped more than once to talk to the crowd. (Kori even had a hat thrown at her, that she ended up wearing for the encore).
Along with a lot of the old stuff, we got to hear a new song as well. Kori stated that it didn’t have a name yet. Jason jokingly said that they were going to call it “Freebird”. After the song was over Kori referenced the choruse by saying, “That was 168 NOs, in case you were wondering.”Also, during the middle of “Like U Crazy”, they broke off into a medley of “Crazy” by Gnarles Barkley. This only accentuated the sense of fun and reckless abandon that they approached the show with. After playing a solid set and encore, MOS ended the show with their version of “Danny’s song” by Kenny Loggins.
After tonight Mates of State has officially gone down in my book with The Flaming Lips as a “don’t miss these guys when they come to town.” - Tony