Columbus, OH’s Scarlet and Grey Cafe mostly plays host to local bands, but occasionally gets the traveling underground group. Recently, they’ve hosted Sent By Ravens, The Fold, and now SONS. SONS’ Friday evening show was memorable in ways that complemented the band and reflected the odd circumstances of the evening.
SONS played a quick 40 minute set with no opener. It was just as well – the venue was never super clear about when they would be playing exactly, and there was a typo on the venue website. The band went onstage (surprisingly good sound and lighting for such a tiny venue) and played cuts from Keep Quiet. The small group of people watching included friends of SONS Fever Fever, whom met each other during Aaron Newberry’s brief stint playing for Everyday Sunday. The rocking “Believe In Something” at the beginning was followed by the post-rock-esque “Ghosts,” both of which were played flawlessly. At this point, more people were starting to trickle into the venue. This was the odd part of the evening – the venue had booked SONS on the same evening as some late night reggae bands. So while some of the patrons filing in were undoubtedly a tad bewildered by the band playing before them that was nowhere near reggae in genre, they politely watched and even seemed to enjoy it a bit. SONS continued their set, with about five more songs, my favorites which were “Doubt,” “Keep Quiet,” and set ender “Masters of Flattery.”
The band performs really well in un-ideal circumstances, so I can only imagine how well they would perform in a mid-size venue packed out. This is one band you want to pay attention to – I’m already looking forward to seeing them play Columbus again with Project 86 (a few weeks out from the time of this review).
