Show Review: Mae & The Color Fred

Hey! Sorry I didn't get around to this sooner, I was entertaining my sister for lil' sibs weekend here at school, which awesomely coincided with the Mae show...

For anyone not familiar with the bands, The Color Fred is the current band of Fred Mascherino, who was in Philly punk band Brody, Philly emo band Breaking Pangaea, and most famously replaced John Nolan as guitarist/back-up vocalist for Taking Back Sunday when Nolan left to form Straylight Run. Mae formed in Norfolk, Virginia in 2001, has released 3 full-length albums (Destination: Beautiful and The Everglow on Tooth & Nail, 2007's Singularity on Capitol), and is currently releasing one song a month via their website as a charity benefit for Habitat for Humanity, since they are no longer on a record label.

Interestingly enough, I was told by members of the band that the show here at Messiah would be former (and recent touring) bassist Mark Padgett's last show with the band. He will be replaced (touring) by Josiah Schlater of Virginia Beach's Tokyo, touring keyboardist Robert Smith's band.

The show was a lot of fun, despite the complete lack of moshing. The music, luckily, was enjoyable for its own sake. The Color Fred opened up with a high-energy set of Mascherino's music, fully fleshed out with a touring band (He told me the next tour will be solo and acoustic). Catchy hooks were easily picked up and people were singing along despite the fact that most had never heard/seen them before.

Mae started off with one of their lesser-known songs, then a completely instrumental number before seguing into their more popular material with songs like "Embers And Envelopes", closing with "Someone Else's Arms" before an encore of the obscure fan favorite "Tisbury Lane". They have an amazing ability to replicate their sound on CD live, as well as improvise and arrange for the live show, but the deviations are always intentional. They are consummate musicians.

It was a great show, though I would suggest seeing both bands in more mosh-conducive venues unless you are extremely familiar with their music. Though both bands put on a good show, The Color Fred is definitely more of a performance-oriented group, as many Mae songs can become shoegaze anthems-a difficulty they handle fairly well with video and visualizations projected on a screen behind them.

Check out this video of The Color Fred performing "Get Out" Saturday night (courtesy of Colin Riddle, otherwise known as McLovin):