John Tierney
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A power pop master class.
What is it that made you fall in love with rock n roll in the first place? Was it the soaring melodies sung by great singers with heart on the sleeve lyrics? Was it the guitars turned up loud playing with riffs that make your heart skip a beat? Maybe it was the harmony vocals that add just enough to give you goosebumps? Perhaps it was drums played hard enough to blow your hair back. (If you have any, some of us aren’t so hirsute, but I digress).
If it never happened to you, like it happened for me, you are missing out. For me, many of those rock n roll moments happened on the stage of The Lost Horizon where last Saturday, Long Since Forgotten, The Exploding Flowers and Shy Tooth put on a master class of rock n roll songwriting and performance that more than carried the torch of all the flame keepers and flame throwers that inhabited that storied stage for decades.
Sammy Award Winners Long Since Forgotten, playing one of their semi-annual reunion gigs offered a world class performance of their special brand of power pop/rock n roll. Sounding a bit like Superstar Carwash era Goo Goo Dolls with a bit of Gin Blossoms thrown in for good measure, LSG rocked through an all too short set featuring songs from their ten-year career as an active band with a worldwide fan base. Songs like “Prizefighter” and “Some Sort of Meaning” were crowd pleasers as were the fantastic new songs “Someone Said” and “See You Now”. The entire set was full of catchy, sing along worthy, radio ready music.
Brothers Josh & Caleb Coy on guitar and bass respectively, each showcased great voices as they shared lead vocal duties. Jeff French’s melodic and ripping lead guitar was awe inspiring, he lifted the songs to an anthemic level along with drummer Steve Stockin who was rock solid.
Fellow Sammy winners The Exploding Flowers finally got the chance to perform live after releasing their tremendous debut album Strangers during the early days of the pandemic. Joining the band on stage was the album’s producer Josh Coy. Songs like “Time is Tight” and “Second Chances”, highlights on the Strangers album sounded fantastic. If this was their first gig, I can’t wait to see future gigs, this is an excellent band to see live and Strangers is an album you must have in your regular rotation.
Opening the show was Rochester’s Shy Tooth, with their own brand of in your face, Sloan like power pop rock n roll with vocalist Jimmy Stadt (formerly of Polar Bear Club). Stadt’s vocals when he really gets into the punchier parts gives me a Robin Zander kind of kick, like on the soaring “Too Kind”. Shy Tooth brings that punchy, almost anthemic feel to the music, a relatively new band Shy Tooth is another band I hope to see again soon. I am a new fan of this fantastic band,
I’ve spent many nights, too many to count, stage side at The Lost Horizon and for my money last Saturday was as good an evening of original music as any of them. A night with music that can make you fall in love with rock n roll all over again. All three of these bands could fill an entertaining night all by themselves, this three-band showcase of some of the region’s best songwriting and playing is an embarrassment of riches for our area. If you weren’t there, you should have been.
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