Maybe it was winter rearing its ugly head. Maybe it was the altitude. Whatever the reason, Generationals’ set at the Larimer Lounge last night fell flat.
The night started off with local act Van Louvin. Minus their bass player (who was apparently on vacation) they ran through a set of songs dedicated to a steady diet of Hüsker Dü, Pavement and ’90s alt-country. The resulting interpretation wasn’t transcendent, but it wasn’t offensive, either.
Next came Le Divorce. Born partially from the ashes of Everything Absent or Distorted, Le Divorce sound like a teenage version of the Pretenders if they’d spent their formative years devouring Joy Division records.
After a brief soundcheck, Generationals took the stage and opened with “Exterior Street Day” from their 2009 Park the Van release “Con Law.” Removed from the confines of the studio and all of its charm, the majority of Generationals’ material was condensed down to a four piece, with detrimental effects. Where keys and haunting harmonies inform the middle eight on the album version of “Exterior Street Day,” the live version found an everyman ’90s throwback. This isn’t to say the set was completely devoid of high points. The band gradually got a little more settled as their set progressed, closing out the night with their catchiest songs “Nobody Could Change Your Mind,” “When They Fight, They Fight” and newly released “Trust.”
But the lukewarm performance of everything preceding this finale overshadowed the last-ditch effort. Defeated by exhaustion and the altitude, Generationals resigned themselves to passing on an encore. The underwhelming response from the audience confirmed their decision.
Follow our news and updates on Twitter, our whereabouts on Foursquare and everything else on Facebook. Or send us a telegram.
Paul Custer is a Denver-based writer and regular contributor to Reverb.
