thao with the get down stay down

by davin chang

Entering Bottom of the Hill, a San Francisco live music venue on April 12th for a show billed as "Xiu Xiu w/ Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, VC4," one might expect to see a lot of dark-mood Xiu Xiu fans waiting impatiently for their favorite obscure experimental band to hit the stage. But this was not the scene. At roughly 11:10pm the opening act, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, hit the stage with a familiar drum beat of the song "Beat (Health, Life and Fire)," getting the crowd moving and yelling. The enthusiastic crowd response showed that many of the fans at the show were Thao fans who came out to see her, and many of the other audience members would soon be won over to Thao's music.

Thao with the Get Down Stay Down is composed of lead singer and guitarist, Thao Nguyen, Frank Stewart on guitar, Adam Thompson on bass and Willis Thompson on drums. The show at Bottom of the Hill was the band's last show on the month-long tour with Xiu Xiu and the band's second appearance in the Bay Area that day. Earlier that day Thao rocked a nice intimate in-store set at Rasputin on Telegraph, letting their sound echo to a street filled with Cal Day visitors who wondered "where is the music coming from?"

Thao's show at Bottom of the Hill was literally a breath of fresh air for the band. Thao noted that "Bottom of the Hill is the first venue we've played on this tour that actually has air ventilation, thank you Bottom of the Hill!" Thao Nguyen's fun attitude was carried to the set when she brought up two of her friends to sing a couple songs and when she made fun of her band mates on stage. Watching Thao on gave one a sense that she is a fun, care-free person who you would want to be great friends with.

Aside from the fun antics of the show, the music and performance were solid. Thao and her band energetically performed many songs from their latest album "We Brave Bee Stings and All" and a couple from her first album "Like the Linen." Unlike many bands that sound good on recording and horrendous live, Thao made the already-great tracks on her CDs much better live. Thao's beat box intro and extended jam session during her current single "Bag of Hammers" added an extra embellishment that made a great song into a perfect song, meanwhile the highly-energetic rendition of "Fear and Convenience" with Thao's extra hard guitar strumming definitely added more passion to the recorded version.

Although Thao mainly played the upbeat tracks off her new album, she did not forget her older efforts. Near the end of the set, the band toned things down and played "Tallymarks" from the album "Like the Linen." The energetic upbeat Thao, who the crowd saw just one song earlier, was transformed into a more emotional artist singing "I drop drop tears like tallymarks and I'm keeping score as I keep us apart." Thao with the Get Down Stay Down energetically foot-stomped, beat boxed and made the crowd cry a little inside, all within the 45 minute set garnered to them. After the last chord and drum beat of "Fear and Convenience," Thao said "Thank you so much! Xiu Xiu is next!" Rather than an opening act hyping up the headlining act, it seemed more like a reminder that the show was not over yet; Thao's concert was already a great way to end the night at Bottom of the Hill.