Foreign Born + Free Energy at the Empty Bottle: Live review and photo gallery

Photos: Erin Paulson

Saturday morning, Philly quintet Free Energy tweeted "Chicago was bonky bonkerz. Babes taking pictures. Fat guys dancing loco. Thanks everybody" and that's an accurate summary of what went down Friday night. For a non-headliner, Free Energy brought what the unusually unguarded Empty Bottle crowd wanted: good party music, upbeat attitude with two guitars. While the band's DFA-produced album, out later this month, is a fine listen, it doesn't really do the group's bubblegum-from-the-gutter guitar rock justice. The band sounds older and less ballsy on the record. Live, the hammer-ons and rock moves help as did the matching orange sunburst Gibsons—vaguely ’70s-referencing fun, attitude and life-loving vibrations—and all at a civilized volume, mind you. A BTO cover executed with more respect than irony only goes to show that this band is either on the cusp of a subtle change in what rock club audiences want or have tapped into an under-served niche. Either way, its no novelty act.

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Foreign Born has a California sheen on its wide-ranging indie-folk rock. Even the band's stage show, with fog and lights, been crafted for impact, which is wise, as the band's tunes sometimes take the long road to drama on its latest album Person to Person. But at the Bottle, the band's more atmospheric and layered approach wasn't just dramatic, it seemed a uniquely sophisticated take—especially in terms of rhythms—coming after Free Energy's back-to-basics one-hitter rock. Those that stayed past midnight—Free Energy seemed to have its own following—were swept away pretty quickly in Foreign Born's more enveloping sound. Foreign Born may dabble with Afro rhythms, but the band has more personality and lush sonics than its impersonal name might suggest.

As Empty Bottle shows go, it was pretty damn good. It felt like big brother from the Peace Corps teaming up with little community college ne'er do well for a night out—an illuminating contrast if there ever was one.