Chill Out with José González (State Theater – St. Petersburg, FL)
There are times to rage and dance, and there are times to chill out and listen to some slow, chill tunes. Tuesday night was one of those times as José González graced the stage at St. Petersburg’s State Theater courtesy of the fine folks at Aestheticized Presents. We had an opportunity to check out this indie crooner and just couldn’t pass it up.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Swedish-Argentinian indie songwriter, you may recognize him as the singing half of Junip. But tonight he was flying solo and bringing his slow melodies to an eager crowd in the Sunshine State.
On this evening, the opening duties were up to Australian duo LULUC. While the vibe they brought certainly matched well with what was to come from José, the fickle sound and acoustics of State Theater were not as kind to this simple set. Getting sound right is a tough job at this venue, and it was tough to hear the band. It wasn’t as hard, however, to hear the people talking in other parts of the theater. The band even commented on the fact that they could hear a lot of chatter, but there’s not a whole lot that can be done about that in such a place with a packed crowd.
When José finally took the stage with his band, the sound was on point, and so was the crowd. The vibe was light, and so were the slow, smooth songs. He was there to promote his new album, Vestiges & Claws, his first release since 2007. Most of the songs played were from this most recent release, but we were treated to a few treats from his previous albums as well.
The show was simple. There was no crazy light show, and many of the songs were acoustic. The crowd swayed instead of danced and softly sang along. But sometimes you just need a nice, slow, chill vibe.
While he made some festival rounds this summer, making stops at Pitchfork, Longitude, Sasquatch, and many others, including the upcoming Treasure Island Music Festival October 17 & 18, we are sure to see him more next festival season. At least I sure hope we do!