Old Time Relijun and Viva Voce bring Friday night to a close

Well, I'm home now and in bed, but I've still got thoughts of Portland music dancing in my head. Specifically of Old Time Relijun and Viva Voce, tonight's last two bands.

Old Time Relijun reminded me a lot of the great set The Planet The played at last year's festival and the fact that I can say that about a band with an upright bass in it is pretty strange. Their singer has the same crazy-eyed look on stage as Charlie from The Planet The and the two bands shared a wild onstage energy. Another act that came to mind was Primus with whom OTR shares that special kind of countrified insanity. As an added bonus, one of their members played two saxophones at once! Don't believe me? Check out the proof. Anyway, they're definitely a welcome addition ot the Portland music community.

And last, but definitely not least, we had festival stalwarts Viva Voce in their third consecutive performance. Two of the sweetest folks you ever could meet, Viva Voce is a married couple: Kevin and Anita. Tonight they brought along a friend who played acoustic guitar and bass. This seems to be a trend -- traditonally two piece bands adding a third member -- if you're keeping track of your pdxpop trivia, Joanna Bolme (of the Jicks et al) joined Sam and Janet of Quasi on stage at City Hall last week.

Anyway, Viva Voce did a great job squeezing every last remaining bit of energy out of the incredibly commited crowd that hung around past midnight to see them, playing mostly songs from their upcoming new record.

I could probably think of more things to say about Viva Voce, but in six minutes only eight hours will remain until the festival resumes, so I better start looking to salvage what sleep I can. I'm exhausted enough, that I'll probably be asleep by the time this hits the internets. So, thanks for reading and I'll see you tomorrow at PDX Pop!