The Pale Pacific are a quiet band that I've followed for the past few years but haven't been able to see perform live until now. Being in the opening slot, there's only so many songs you can play and maybe half of the crowd wasn't even in the venue yet but nonetheless a good energetic set to folks drinking up for the night.

Early this week I saw some sweet video footage of the crowds of people partying in the streets of Capitol Hill celebrating the win of Barack Obama. I evidently missed it but I really to wanted to join in the celebration. I was curious to see if the hype would continue on into the weekend. During the Tu Fawning set girls in the front were yelling "Obama!" "Obama!" while cheering the band's opening songs. The band acknowledged the enthusiasm for the general political leanings of the crowd.

Tu Fawning are from Portland, OR and is project between Joe Haege and Corrina Repp. My immediate first impression of them was how their sound is really meshed with the some of my favourite Portland bands like Menomena and Talkdemonic. Not to draw comparisons but Tu Fawning have a distinct dark gothic experimental folk to them. The crowd looked and listened in curiousity if not in gentle awe as the band members (also with the addition of Liza Rietz and Toussaint Perrault) moved around between songs to play different various instruments – trombone, guitar, violin, drums, piano, melodica, and various percussion. With both Haege and Repp active and established in the Portland scene and coming out strong with this new project in Tu Fawning, I would expect more shows and good things to come.

By the time Helio Sequence was about to hit the stage I looked back behind me from the front and yeah, it was a sold out show for sure, complete with crowds of girls still yelling out "Obama!".

Benjamin Weikel on drums – I don't know how this guy does night in and night out but he's one of the most energetic and happiest looking drummers i've seen. Judging by the reaction the crowd, the songs that really resonated with them were "Keep Your Eyes Ahead" and the last song of their set "Hallelujah". I couldn't help but tie these songs together to what happened earlier in the week with the election which was nothing short of historic. So yeah, yell out or sing out what you will – it's a good time to rock out to what's to come.