Tilly and the Wall::Austin TX

Before I can even begin to explain the magic that was the Tilly and the Wall Austin performance, I have to describe the venue. Emo’s is a little run down place just off 6^th street and right in the heart of downtown Austin.  The place is riddled with band stickers, graffiti, and security guards with two-toned hair and black tattoos. You can expect the shows at Emo’s to be loud, cramped, and sweaty.  The good news is, in such a small venue you have access to the bands up close and you can typically find the members walking around with a beer in hand before and after their sets. So if you don’t mind getting a little grungy, Emo’s is the place to be.

The mood before Tilly and the Wall hit the stage was pure excitement.  The hipster crowd of kids with headbands and sneakers walked around the 2-staged venue aimlessly listening to a few decent local bands and burning through packs of cigarettes.  Finally, at sometime around 12:30am, it was time.  I myself was completely excited and I can only imagine how totally stoked and elated the kids who got to Emo’s at the 8pm door time were.

Just before the band took the stage, the roadies began testing the equipment and lining the microphone stands with strings of white flowers, making the already antsy crowd push their way closer to the front.  Then the lights went down and the loud sound of tapping took the stage, needless to say, the crowd lost it.  The band came out in their crazy mix-matched outfits with black trash bags filled with balloons.  After the band had thrown out a good 30 or so balloons they took their spots on stage and shouted, “Ah shit, Ah fuck, Austin, let’s fuck it up!” This was all that the crowd needed to be instantly enthralled with the rockstars on stage.

Tilly and the Wall opened their set appropriately with a song from their latest album O entitled, Too Excited, because really that’s exactly what their fans were.  As this was my first experience with this band, I was in awe.  The site on stage was amazing: glitter everywhere, balloons being thrown around, the band all dressed in neon and eye-catching prints, and more than anything else, the dancing.  The two female vocalists in front, Kianna Alarid and Neely Jenkins tapped and did choreographed dance motions with the main tap dancer, Jamie Pressnall who stood behind the others on a tall platform and tapped like there was no tomorrow.

The band went on to play 6 tracks from their 2008 album O, and another 9 songs from their earlier albums, Wild Like Children and Bottoms of Barrels.  And with each new song, came a new dance, more invigorating stage presences, and a rise in temperature.  Somewhere in the middle of their hour long performance, Tilly and the Wall performed Beat Control, a seriously moving song.  I mean moving in a literal way, you literally cannot stand still and listen to this song.  As the girls sang, “Let that beat control your body, you and me, there’s no one watching. Come on, we can rock this party all night long, believe me!” bubbles flooded the stage and the crowd took the band’s advice; allowing the beat to control them. Groups of girls in the audience flung their bodies back and forth while boys jumped and threw their fists in the air.

Following a vigorous performance of Pot Kettle Black, a crowd favorite, the band took an unexpected turn and performed Tall Tall Grass, an acoustic soft-sung track.  On stage Kianna and Neely sang in beautiful harmony while Jamie took a break from tapping and came out to play the maraca during the heartfelt tune.  Despite the fact that this track was completely different than the rest of the evening’s performances, it worked and the crowd ate it right up.

As the last track, Sing Songs Along was ending, bursts of confetti sprayed up into the air and anyone within a 15 foot radius of the stage was instantly covered in glitter.  It was a cute way to end their insanely cute performance.  When Tilly and the Wall came back out for their encore, they did something the big-wig bands rarely do: they took requests.  So, by request of the audience, the final songs that Tilly and the Wall performed were The Freest Man and Nights of the Living Dead.

In a nut shell, this band’s show totally blew me away.  Tilly and the Wall’s performance was everything you can ask for, it was stimulating, it was exciting, and it was really good music performed super energetically right before your eyes.  And for the measly 12 dollar admission fee, this amazing show was a steal.

Set List:

Encore:
The Freest Man
Nights of the Living Dead