The Gutter Twins, April 2 at Avalon

The show with the Gutter Twins, featuring Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs and Twilight Singers, and Mark Lanegan of the Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age, was exactly what I expected: dark, grinding rock that's great to drink to (though I hadn't planned to drink until I got there and ran into a friend from work). They played most of their album and a track or two of Lanegan's solo stuff and, after a satisfying set, left the stage. The crowd cheered and waited for an encore... then the house-lights came up, music came on over the P.A., and the bouncers shuffled everyone out. No encore? Now, a band isn't obligated to play more, especially after they played for a good hour (almost to the minute), but it was disappointing, since we all wanted more and saw no reason why there wouldn't be. Even worse, I'd read a review of some of the other shows they'd played and was really looking forward to some of the stuff they'd play post-set (especially some Twilight Singers stuff and, if I wished hard enough, maybe a 'Whigs track). It was good enough but, right at the end, turned out to be a bit of a let-down. Openers Great Northern were good, very polished, leading me to think they were from other bands but all I could find is that the guitarist used to be in 30 Seconds to Mars. As a warm-up act they were great. This was also the show where I imfamously paid $25 to park across the street from the place (being no street parking in the area, even on a weekday night). Sometimes I want to tell Hollywood that it can fuck itself, even when it has good shows.