Seattle Subsonic

Campfire Ok’s Album Release

February 8th, 2011

Saturday night’s show at Columbia City Theater is the stuff dreams are made of. With a line up of some of my favorite bands in Seattle right now and a sold out crowd that was actually listening, it was damn near a perfect night. Koko and The Sweetmeats opened the night with a cover of Campfire OK’s “Strange Like We Are” doing it solo and on a electric guitar. It was a pretty rad move. After Koko, one of my favorite musicians and voices right now, Bryan John Appleby, came out and played one hell of a set. Doing a few of his songs solo he captivated an audience. When he brought out his full band he blew the room away. During “Cliffs along the Sea” Tony Kevin Jr. graced the stage to sing back up. It’s great seeing this community of talented people come together on stage. I predict big things from Bryan this year. He is set to release a full length album later this summer and I for one am really looking forward to that.
 

As Campfire OK came out on to the stage the the room filled. This was the first time many people would be seeing this band. Having played almost no shows as they worked on this album there was excitement to finally see this band. With KEXP playing the title track from the record and a few videos floating around the internet, the buzz behind the band was a lot to live up too. They exceeded all of my expectations. They had this set nailed down. It’s rare when a band can take the sound from the album and translate it to the stage or vice versa, but Campfire OK has done it. They played one hell of a tight set, and enjoyed every minute of it. This is a band that has worked very hard for a night like this. Even going as far as setting up a whole new lighting set up for their performance.

 
They did an amazing job and it showed, the crowd was hanging on every song always ready for more. They ended the night with an acoustic performance even going as far as to sing to the room without mics. This is really one of the only places in town that you could see something like this. Not too many other venues or crowds for that matter can handle someone singing and playing guitar with out being plugged in. It was truly one of the best nights of the year. I look forward to seeing more of Campfire OK. Who knows what they have up their sleeves next.