Photo by: Donny Dont

There are so many great bands that have amazing albums, but when you go to see them live they just stand there play their instruments.  A big part of being a musician is the performance aspect of it all; being an entertainer.  Why go see a band play live when it’s not more enthralling than listening to their album at home in your room?  Fortunately this is NOT the case with Missouri’s bible belt indie titans Ha Ha Tonka and it has never been more explicit than at their show Saturday night at Subterranean in Chicago.

Ha Ha Tonka is slated to release their second LP, Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South, June 16 via Bloodshot Records, so Saturday night was a bit of a showcase of the new tunes.  Luckily I got my hands on an advanced copy of the album and it has been on repeat every since.  It usually takes a band a few albums to truly define their “sound.”  Novel Sounds a bit of a departure from their debut LP Buckle in the Bible Belt; but when hearing the two albums’ songs together, live, it all makes sense.  Ha Ha Tonka has emerged as a force to be reckoned with.  The live show has reached new heights with the incorporation of the new songs and the addition of a few straight up bluegrass tunes, highlighted by a bluegrass version of Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels.” These guys are performers, entertainers and know how to work a crowd into a frenzy of energy.  From the first song to the last, the crowd was boogying and swaying, cheering and singing and all was high (a few people were puffing hard in the front row).

The Tonka are in the midst of a Midwest tour and will continue through the summer with an east coast tour with Via Audio, who is another amazing live band.  If you get a chance to catch either bands show, bring your dancing shoes and a smile!

Walking on the Devil’s Backbone - Ha Ha Tonka

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Tags: Ha Ha Tonka

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 at and is filed under Concert Review, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.