The best thing about seeing live music in Champaign-Urbana is the crowds that gather to watch the bands. Young, old, everything in-between — the crowds in C-U are always eclectic and interesting. Saturday’s installment of the Pygmalion Spring Concert Series was no exception.
The crowd that turned out to see Elsinore and Common Loon was as diverse as any I’ve ever seen. There were some high school students, plenty of college students and recent college grads, as well as several middle aged and older. Even some of the people who were at Krannert to see Mandy Patinkin (Inigo Montoya, for the uninformed) perform what I can only assume was an awesome performance (no sarcasm, listen to the man’s voice in this video), stuck around to see the local bands.
If I had to guess, I would say even those Patinkin fans were not disappointed by Elsinore and Common Loon — I know I wasn’t. The two bands each played sets comprised of mostly new material. Common Loon’s new songs had that familiar space-echoey jam they have claimed as their sound, and they were thoroughly enjoyable. Elsinore’s set amped up the energy a bit more, and their new songs seemed to resonate among the crowd, even though they didn’t know the words to sing along.
The sets were not completely without familiar material; Common Loon impressed the crowds with favorites like “Automatic Skin” and Elsinore finished with “Yes Yes Yes,” eliciting roars of approval from the audience.
No matter the age or background, for music fans in C-U there wasn’t a better place to be than Krannert on Saturday. Especially for the price of admission (free).
Elsinore
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Common Loon
All photos by Chris D. Davies.