Harvey Danger

With football season over and the Scissor Sisters cancelled, I figure I should talk about some of the ones I forgot.

Harvey Danger was on Oct. 3rd @ Lee's Palace.
I've liked them since their breakout debut album (Where Have all the Merrymakers Gone?) in 1997-98. You may remember the smash hits Flagpole Sitta (with the great lyrics - I'm not sick but I'm not well) and Private Helicopter (my fave from that record).
After their sophomore album (King James Version) was not as successful, despite the great Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo, they were unceremoniously cut from the label.
They disbanded soon after, but their fan base grew still as they kept the forums alive on the band's website.

The band decided to get back together after 3 years because of the response from their fans. With no label they decided to do it themselves releasing the album Little by Little on their website and encouraging fans to download it for free and distribute it. If we liked it they encouraged to give a donation or buy a hard copy from the website that they added little extras to.

Thing is, it's a really good album. Like really good.
Kill Rock Stars eventually picked them up and now they are with Barsuk (who launched Death Cab for Cutie, Rilo Kiley and also have bands like Nada Surf, They Might be Giants and one I really like - Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter).

So when I got to Lee's Palace I was excited, and I liked the opening act - King of France. But when I got there there was like 10 people and the merch table indicated that the opening act was So Many Dynamos. I was getting a little worried, I didn't want a repeat of the Saves the Day disaster.

Eventually some people trickled in; the venue is much smaller than the last time the band was around 8 years ago. The opening act was actually pretty good. Check out the song Home is where the Box wine is and the rest of their album.

Then the main part of the evening started.
2 things I never realised about Harvey Danger - their lyrics are brilliant. I guess that's why I liked them but I never saw just how smart they were.
The band is great live and we were actually able to change their minds about the set list.

Earlier in the show they made it clear that they would not play Helicopter and by association Flagpole.
My favourite song is Happiness Writes White (off the new album) and when they came back for the encore I thought for sure we'd hear it. Someone on the floor shouted 'Happiness'. That made me happy of course. The lead singer (Sean) asked why he should sing that. The person responded 'because it's the best fuckin' song'. That got a giggle and Sean asked the crowd if anyone else though Happiness is the best Harvey Danger Song. I screamed and raised my hand, and the couple who asked did as well.

So the guitar was put away and the piano sat at and they played the song!!!
Sean then said that since that almost made him cry they'll do another softer song. Amazing!
They left to thunderous applause only to come back again!
Then they decided to play a song they haven't played since disbanding - Private Helicopter to finish the show.

Great show from one of the most underrated bands ever. I need to get my hands on a copy of the Tragic Hero track.