I first became aware of Court when they contacted us via Pindral's MySpace page saying they would be playing in Aurora on June 17, please join them. I had never heard of the venue they booked themselves into, but how often does one get to see an Italian prog band in Colorado? Gotta go check them out even though it was on a Sunday night.
Larry and I pulled up to Wyatt's Torch which was in a nondescript strip mall off S. Parker Rd. Much to our surprise there were only 5 cars in the parking lot outside. The place is pretty much a hole-in-the-wall club where they seem to really push the sex, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle. A sign in the place proudly proclaimed they were the loudest club in Aurora. Oh, boy. Upon entering we were pleasantly surprised to see a friendly face, Mr. Ron Perron, bass player for Stencil Forest and Colorado Art Rock Society friend, who was the only person there besides a few of the bar staff and the three piece band from Laramie, Wyoming who were the opening act. This was after 9:00 and the opening act was supposed to have been playing already, but they got delayed on their trip down. They got set-up and did a short opening set. Thankfully, the sound guy cut them off at 10:00 so Court could set-up. The Laramie guys weren't that bad really, but at 10:00 on a Sunday night with an early work day looming...let's get to the main act! In the meantime, Ron, who had already had the chance talk with the Court members, introduced us to some of them and we got to chat briefly. We explained we play in a prog band here in town and next time they come through let us know and maybe we could do a show together at The Oriental Theater. They seemed like really nice folks indeed and receptive to the idea. Keeping fingers crossed.
Court consists of a lead vocalist, drummer, two guitarists and a bass player. A couple of them also play a wind instruments, such as recorders, flutes and oboe. Very nice sounds. After setting up their gear, they stepped outside the back door to change into their stage clothes, much to our surprise, because there was only three real paying customers at this gig...professional to say the least!
I had not really heard any of Court's music besides a few samples from their MySpace page, so I wasn't really sure what we were in for. The band started into their set with some great instrumental passages. Wow, what a great sound! Lead singer Paolo soon joined. Such a nice voice and stage presence he brings to the table. His energetic and theatrical stage antics really added to the set. The band ripped through an hours worth of songs from their latest CD Frost of Watermelon and some older material as well. The music was a blend of all out powerful prog rock passages with some great folky ones as well. Very good blend of instrumental and vocal passages. Excellent musicianship too. Actually we didn't want them to stop even though it was well after midnight...they were that good.
After the show we got to talk to all of them and thank them for coming. We exchanged CD's and purchased one also. Talking to Francesco he said they are financing the tour themselves and looked at this tour as a nice US vacation. He told us he has lived in the States previously, spending some time in Carmel, CA and I think Ohio (?). The rest of the guys had never been here so they were wide-eyed with all the sights. Amazingly, they had just come from De Moines, Iowa the night before. They drove all night and arrived in Denver at 11:00 am and got to sleep before the show. Their next shows are in California and they have three days to drive out there. Hope some nice crowds show-up for them because they really deserve to be heard! Marco mentioned they were sometimes surprised where they end up playing because they really had to book the venues blindly...I think this was one of the surprises.
Upon heading to our vehicle after saying goodbyes the club manager stopped us and thanked us for coming. I had video taped the show and he asked me if I was going to post any of the footage on the web, because he said he was blown away by these guys. Just as we didn't know what to expect from them, I don't think he really had a clue what he was in for booking Court, but nice to see them gain some more fans, myself and Larry included.
I have a video of their performance on my YouTube station (here).
Also, I have a complete set of photos on my Photosite.
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