Philly band Free Energy will be in town for two area shows this week, on either side of Thanksgiving
Wednesday, November 24, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St., $15, 9:00
Friday, November 26, Music Hall of Williamsburg, 66 North Sixth St., $15, 9:00
www.myspace.com/freeenergymusic
www.freeenergymusic.com
Philly band Free Energy, born of the remnants of Minneapolis’s Hockey Night, glory in guitar-based pop firmly based in a 1970s classic rock universe where “the streets are all safe / And you know deep down / You can find a better way,” as they sing in “Dream City.” Scott Wells, Paul Sprangers, Evan Wells, Geoff Bucknam, and Nick Shuminksy don’t care that they don’t have that indie hipster edge and that they might not go out on a limb taking chances, perfectly content to remain out on those safe streets. They know what they like, and they play it. Yes, that is indeed cowbell on the first track of the James Murphy–produced STUCK ON NOTHING (Astralwerks, May 2010). Yes, “Dark Trance” does borrow the main riff from Cheap Trick’s “Surrender.” And yes, Free Energy was joined by tour mates Titus Andronicus at a recent Atlanta gig for a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m Going Down.” So what? You all know you blast CT or the Boss when you’re driving down the highway or through the suburbs anyway, so why not hear it in downtown Manhattan or Brooklyn? Free Energy will keep on keepin’ on at the Bowery Ballroom on Wednesday and the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday, with Foxy Shazam and Hollerado.