The crowd at the Columbia City Theater on St. Patrick's day got one hell of a show. Not only did 'Vetiver' play a great set, but the crowd was really interactive with the performers and were dancing the whole time. I assume some chilled spirits were involved in loosening everyone's tongue and bringing out their dancin' shoes, but whatever it was it was a great atmosphere. This was the first show I have been to there that felt packed to capacity, the air in the place was electric.

After local bands 'Cumulus' and 'Gold Leaves' got the crowd in the mood to move it was Vetiver's turn to go on. The first thing I noticed when they came out was the dude's bass looked like an over-grown fiddle. Don't ask me why, but that gave me a good feeling about what I was about to experience, and my feeling was spot on. The set started with a blues-infused tune that set the mood perfectly. The band proceeded to play a wide array of genres over the next 75 minutes. At one point I leaned over to my girlfriend and said: "Vetiver is like the weather, if you don't like what you hear, wait 5 minutes and it will change." Not that any of their songs sucked, exactly the opposite, I was just impressed by their genre wandering. The first few songs were indie rock, then they went in a pop rock direction starting with the song "Wonder Why." Just when you started to settle into that genre they channeled their inner George Thorogood and proceeded to hit us with some straight ahead rock-n-roll. After rocking and rolling for a bit, they decided it was rockabilly time and finished their main set strong while a group of girls in front of me line-danced the night away. They played a two song encore of mellower tunes and that was that: Vetiver came, they rocked, and they gave the crowd an experience they won't soon forget, unless of course too many spirits were consumed.

Vetiver is on Seattle-based label Sub Pop Records so they are sure to come back around, and when they do do not miss this show, I know I won't!