Obscure band wins new fans at Blue October show

March 23, 2009 by Jordan Healy 

Main event satisfies but unknown opening act Ours truly rocks

Blue October performed at the House of Blues Thursday night to a room packed full of fans eager for the Texas group’s brand of alternative rock. 

As the lights dimmed for the group’s performance, the roar of what seemed like hundreds of teenage girls emitted from the floor of the venue. Without further ado, the band took the stage and delivered a 90-minute set with almost no break. 

After about four songs the distinction between each track became blurred. Before long, each song sounded like an extension of the one previous, and the expansive set list quickly became a daunting prospect for all but the most hardcore fans. 

This isn’t to say that the band put on a bad performance, they were excellent as far as musicianship and energy.  Justin Furstenfeld is an excellent front man. He delivered his vocals with skill and enthusiasm, as well as creating a sense of intimacy in the audience which kept everyone watching even during the less-known songs. 

Violinist Ryan Delahoussaye added an amazing melancholic tone to the music which most bands of the genre don’t have. At one point in the show, it seemed like there were pre-recorded backing female vocals playing on one of the group’s tracks, but it gradually became apparent that the beautiful melodies were only springing from Delahoussaye’s instrument. This moment was undoubtedly the highlight of the show, and the greatest surprise of the evening.

That being said, for all of the musical talent in the group, each song felt like it was missing that extra oomph that truly drives a listener to actually take the music into their body and feel it, as opposed to just listening and enjoying from the outside. The group came awfully close when they performed their latest single, “Dirt Room,” but as soon as the chorus kicked in all of the momentum created by the build-up dissipated. Unfortunately, this was a prevailing feature throughout Blue October’s set. While the performance was certainly enjoyable, it was little more than that.

The criminally underrated and overlooked Ours opened the show with a 45-minute set which eclipsed that of the headliner. 

Like Blue October, Ours is another one of those groups that should have been “the next big thing” at more than one point in their career but have failed to fully achieve commercial success. Despite tours opening for larger acts such as Marilyn Manson, The Cult and Circa Survive, and even releasing a Rick Rubin-produced album last year, the group remains relatively unheard of in the mainstream. 

This was reflected in the initial attitude of the audience.

When the group took the stage, the crowd didn’t even take a breath away from whatever conversation they were having — they simply didn’t care. However, as the first chords to the group’s opening song played, focus was shifted toward the stage. 

Vocalist Jimmy Gnecco was able to grab the crowd’s attention with his unique voice that echoes hints of Bono and Jeff Buckley, but at the same time is an entity all its own. 

By the time the group finished their set with a thunderous rendition of “Fallen Souls,” the crowd fell in love with a band they had probably never even heard of before. 

It was magical to see a group of concert-goers go from ignoring a band at the beginning of their set, to showering them with waves of applause by the conclusion. 

Hopefully this group will finally begin to achieve the success that has somehow evaded them for nearly 10 years.  This performance was evidence of how much they deserve it.