murder by death live review and concert photos

Two Kinds of Death, One Low Price | Murder By Death Live Review & Concert Photos w/ O’Death | The Social Orlando | March 13 2015

by • March 16, 2015

Nobody said it out loud that night, but we all knew it: we were on a big damn boat. We’d boarded the SS Social and got rocked by a storm we weren’t entirely prepared for.

It’s not so hard to picture it, whether you were there to see it or not. Think about it. O’Death looked and felt like a merry band of pirates, crazed and hard rocking Brooklyners bound by their gypsy punk or folk or whatever genre you want to try and attach to them. It’s almost like they couldn’t play fast enough to get out all the energy they wanted to. A girl standing next to me actually said out loud, “These guys are pretty weird,” but everyone else was on board (see? still on a boat) with what they had to share. If it was weirdness, so be it. Just because few seemed to know who they were didn’t stop them from quickly gathering up new fans, flies drawn and stuck to flypaper.

Greg Jamie is like a pantlegs-rolled-up-and-just-as-beardy Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and he’s backed by a ferocious band of players, all ready to play the hardest drums and electric fiddle and banjo you’ve ever seen happen. The guy on fiddle (violin?) lost his hat when he started to really get into it, and it never found its way back to him. There was no pretense, no posturing … just unabashed originality. They’ve stuck with this through a lot of albums and they probably won’t be changing for anybody anytime soon.

Maybe they only looked like pirates, sure. But they 100% believed in their shanties being played and sung and we knew it and felt it along with them. We agreed by raising our glasses good and high and calling out for more! more! more!

Once the torch got passed to Murder By Death (two bands with Death in their names, one low price), it was one of those seamless transitions, too. They thundered along a dark road of folk and gave us tales that usually involved whiskey. We may as well have been in the belly of the ship, somewhere near the bar and off the coast of Ireland. Water and drinks were spilled and thrown alike. When yelling happened—which it did and regularly at that—it seemed like the right thing to have happen. And it’s hard not to shake the notion that this band was related (brothers? first cousins?) to the one that came before them. Only these are the only ones that covered an INXS song before they were through with us (“Never Tear Us Apart” has never sounded better). Some heard Johnny Cash while I heard some Nick Cave (not that it matters much, either).

Did you see the superfan standing stageside? He was the beardy bespectacled guy who happened to know the lyrics of the songs being sung so well, they could have cheated and looked down to the guy’s mouth were they ever to forget some of their own words. He was like this fairly hypnotized-looking human teleprompter. Thanks for providing that service, bearded fan.

On a day that few things had gone right, O’Death and Murder By Death helped erase all the ills that had happened in the daylight. I could not have been a sorrier sack walking into The Social that night. I could not have left a happier man. It was a night and day experience. They’d reached down and lifted me up without using any hands. Tell me, what more can you ask for out of music?

Murder By Death Live Review & O’Death Live Review by Dainon.
Murder By Death Live Concert Photos & O’Death Live Concert Photos by Lindsay.

Lindsay Tompkins Professional Concert Photography

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