Tally Hall in Dallas, TX

For anyone following my livejournal, you know that my job has been cutting down my hours. My schedule for this last week came out with my Monday and Tuesday off. I was put off but didn't raise a fuss.

So I'm sure you could imagine my surprise when I looked at Tally Hall's tour schedule and saw they would be in Dallas Monday night. For those unaware, Dallas is 300 miles from my home in northeastern Louisiana, a five hour drive. This small factor would not stop me! I had the right days off by luck, extra money from my tax returns, I was going to see them. I had missed seeing Tally Hall in Houston last December when I had to move back to Louisiana; my determination was unmatched.

After a long drive there, getting stuck in traffic, road construction, and more traffic entering Dallas, I parked a block away from the House of Blues and went on my way inside. And I can tell you, it was worth every mile.

I got there about half an hour before the first act started to set up and realized I was older than most of the group that had formed at the foot of the small stage. The Cambridge Room they were performing in looked more like a decorated blackbox theatre than a concert hall. But I cruised around, perused their small gift shop table. Picked up a hard copy of Tally Hall's album (since I hadn't been able to find it in stores at all) and one of their T-shirts. Andrew (keyboardist) was manning the shop at the moment, so I got his autograph on the shirt. They had interesting things for sale as well, like a gas mask, an original NES Super Mario Brothers game cartridge, and other random things. Such as you'd expect from Tally Hall. I spoke to their tour manager for a few minutes while I was there as well. Nothing of note, really.

The first band that played was a small group called Skybox. I hadn't heard them before so I was eagerly listening. A very talented group, they had a sound akin to an upbeat We Are Scientists mixed with P!ATD's newer album sound. I was disappointed, however, in the group of teenage girls next to me. They were incredibly rude to the band, heckling and making comments that they should get off the stage, they didn't want to hear this band. Halfway through their set, their keyboardist said, "Howdy, y'all! ...I've always wanted to say that. Look, I wore suspenders to fit in." He was obviously joking, but someone to my left (that group of girls) yelled out, "Racist!" I'm not sure if they didn't get that it was a joke or if they called that out as a bad joke retort. I discretely relocated myself in the crowd. The keyboardist took it in stride and tried to joke back. They finished their set and made way for the next band, Jukebox the Ghost. At this point, I had to make use of one of the couches against the wall so I didn't see much of their act. But they had a great sound that I can't properly describe. That's good, in a way; it means they have a sound all their own.

And last, but certainly not least, the prize of my trip. Tally Hall's crew began setting up and I found a newer spot in the crowd. I was sad to see Joe Hawley wasn't there: according to word of mouth, he had backed out of the tour completely for unstated reasons. His stand-in, Casey, was an asset to them nonetheless. They opened with "Ruler of Everything" and most anyone in the crowd that I could see was either mouthing the words or taking pictures. They went on with a song from their new, unreleased album and continued with "Greener". I laughed a little to myself when Shaun (Shawn?) ran to the front of the crowd, beer in hand with her hands up high until the song was over. Rob mentioned to us that she is who the song was written about. Zubin had a technical difficulty at that point, so Rob opened the floor for Q&A. A guy behind me asked a question about when they started playing, to which Rob replied their sophomore of college.

"Which was what year?"

"1985," Rob replied. "Graduated in '86. ...'87. Graduated in '86-'87. Which is weird when you think about it, we were born in '93. ...... 1893, that is."

Andrew, their pianist piped up from one side, "That is such a load of bull." Rob laughed.

"No, it's not! It's intelligent banter."

Zubin supposedly fixed his guitar problem and they performed "Good Day", followed by another new song called, "Fences".

At that point in the show, an audio recording started playing, asking the crowd to "sit on the floor, take a load off [our] feet. Tally Hall will continue their performance on the floor".

They restationed themselves nearby and I was able to slide closer until I was about four feet from the band. (see above picture) Unfortunately (or fortunately, for me), when they moved their equipment, they lost the use of their PA system. So the rest of the performance would be acoustic. They played several new songs and then sang "The Bidding", followed by their closing song, "The Whole World And You". They finished with streamers and an airzooka shooting confetti over the crowd. They then had Skybox and Jukebox the Ghost come out and had a crowd sing-a-long rendition of "Oh Cecelia".

After they were over, Andrew and Ross (drummer) were back at the gift table. I asked Ross to sign my shirt as well and thanked them for having a great show. It was energetic, fun, and left me looking forward to their new album with a renewed anticipation.