Friday, July 27, 2007

Concert Review: Framing Hanley

By Kenneth Smith of 2K7 Photography

Kenneth Smith is reporting on behalf of DFW Country Magazine

Tuesday night, Canadian rock band Evans Blue held their CD release party at the House Of Blues in Dallas. Lucky for us, they brought Nashville 's up-and-coming "Framing Hanley" with them. For those that may not have heard of Framing Hanley before, go check them out now then come back (well, I GUESS it can wait until later, but don't forget). This particular show was held in the upstairs portion of House of Blues in the Cambridge room. It was also free for anyone who got there before the place was filled to capacity (Thanks KDGE!)

Framing Hanley went on at around 8:20pm after local openers Darby (who put on an excellent show, I might add) finished their set. They took the stage to a nearly packed Cambridge room and it was quickly apparent why this band has such a strong following despite the fact that their Debut album has not even been released yet.

They immediately began to engage the crowd with their heavy music combined with soaring vocals. After the first song it was clear that the audience definitely liked what they heard. Cheering, clapping and screaming took them into the next song and this exchange continued through the evening.

Toward the end of the set, they performed one of the songs (and probably my favorite) from their Myspace page "Built For Sin". The song has a very mellow beginning but slowly builds into a more fast-paced, well-composed, catchy rock song. The lyrics are quite nice as well. "You taste like heaven, but God knows you're built for sin" and "Hypocrisy has really aged you well" are two that particularly stand out to me as being profound in some way.

After proclaiming that Dallas is such a great city to perform in, they closed the set with the first single from their upcoming album "The Moment" (To be released on 8-7-07 everywhere) called "Hear Me Now" This song has been getting heavy rotation on XM and Sirius satellite radio. The eerie intro complimented the song very well and it was performed flawlessly before the band thanked the audience again and exited the stage.

I plan to purchase "The Moment" the day it's released. This is definitely one of those bands that have captivated me from the get go. With catchy, well-composed songs that don't seem to get old, you can't really go wrong. They also have their own YouTube channel, though for a good laugh, check out this fan made video for "Hear Me Now". It's absolutely hilarious.

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• Arts > Popular Music > Alternative / Indie
• Arts > Popular Music > Rock

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