the Like, May 31 at the Echo

I'd had plenty of opportunity to see the Like (at Coachella, opening for Bloc Party, various shows in small places around town) but somehow I kept missing them, though I loved their first album (and I bought it at Amoeba at the same time one of the members of the band was there too, or so I was told). Then they played a month's free residency at the Echo, and we like the Echo, and if you're not going to see a band you like out of free times and you don't have to pay for it then you probably don't like them as much as you say. As it was, I saw the last night of the run, and on Memorial Day, no less. Vanessa met me there, with the guy she was dating at the time, and I don't think I even tried to keep up with them at drinking. The first band on was the Living Sickness and we agreed they were pretty good. No idea who they were or if they were local but they sounded good. The next band was the Young Veins and a lot of the people were there, almost filling the place, even though they weren't great. As I found out weeks later, that band is the two members of Panic! At The Disco who got fired. I wouldn't have liked them any more or less for having had that knowledge at the time but it was clear to see why I didn't like them, even if I didn't know why at the time. Vanessa and her guy took off so I was left with my beloved the Like, for the first time ever. About half the crowd had taken off, which confounded me since the headliners hadn't even gone on. But no matter. The Like went on and they were great. They had a new sound, very poppy, like a '60s girl-band, very unlike any of the stuff off their moody first album, which they didn't even bother to play, especially since any of the old stuff would have stuck out like the most obvious thing ever. I have no idea how they reconciled their old stuff with their new stuff in one of their full shows (as this one was just a short set, less than 10 songs, and songs that were short in the first place). Z. had a great guitar that had her letter all over it and a skirt that was so short, I've seen longer shirts. Needless to say she looked great, like a real rock star. After the show I just happened to gravitate toward Mikel from the Airborne Toxic Event, who happened to be there, and talked to him for a while but that really has nothing to do with the actual review of the Like's show (though you should realize the significance of my meeting him if you've read any of the rest of this blog). Though it made my night enough that Panic! At The Disco, with whatever members, could have played and it still would have been great.