That Was The Show That Was: We Were Promised Jetpacks | Middle East Rock Club | 14 Feb.

Last night in America there was only one rock band that mattered: We Were Promised Jetpacks. The fiery Glaswegian quartet played to a thronged subterranean nightclub, desperately and as if their souls were on the line. You only get one chance to see a band turn in a performance like what we witnessed. Despite it being eight months after the release of its debut full-length These Four Walls (FatCat Records), We Were Promised Jetpacks played like they had a lot to prove.

The four seeped onto the stage and conjured an incredibly riveting, completely annihilating "Keeping Warm," and from there launched the act's first, incendiary single "Quiet Little Voices." The latter completely unhinged the demonstrably ecstatic crowd. Band fronter Adam Thompson shook with sentiment as he belted lyrics, usually shouting and almost always repeating for emphasis. Mr. Thompson's intensity was unrelenting: he frequently stepped away from the microphone to shout directly over the audience members' heads, and occasionally clutched the microphone under white knuckles and shouted over top of the microphone as he repeatedly stabbed himself in the throat with it. For its part the assembled masses rewarded We Were Promised Jetpacks' shattering, cataclysmic performance with long, loud ovations. Last night's nearly sold-out (by the looks of it, although we were able to score tickets at the door), hour-long show was wedged between a sold-out evening in Washington, D.C. Saturday night and another in New York tonight. This is a band that is at the peak of its powers, and we urge you to get out to one of the remaining dates on the tour; we list the dates below.

We Were Promised Jetpacks made the track "Ships With Holes Will Sink" available for free download via a link at its MySpace; we're saving you the trip and posting the track below. The track was released by FatCat in November along with "It's Thunder And It's Lightning" as a double-A-sided single. There are two prior singles: "Roll Up Your Sleeves" b/w "Back To The Bare Bones" released in June 2009, and "Quiet Little Voices" b/w "Let's Call This A Map" released in May 2009.

We Were Promised Jetpacks -- "Ships With Holes Will Sink" -- These Four Walls
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[buy We Were Promised Jetpacks records from Fat Cat right here]

We Were Promised Jetpacks: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

02.15 -- The Knitting Factory -- Brooklyn, NY
02.17 -- Casbah at Tremont Music Hall -- Charlotte, NC
02.18 -- The Masquerade -- Atlanta, GA
02.19 -- The End -- Nashville, TN
02.20 -- Maxine’s Pub -- Hot Springs, AR
02.21 -- Hailey’s -- Denton, TX
02.23 -- Rhythm Room -- Phoenix, AZ
02.24 -- The Loft -- San Diego, CA
02.26 -- Troubadour -- Los Angeles, CA
02.27 -- Slim’s -- San Francisco, CA
03.01 -- Biltmore Cabaret -- Vancouver, BC
03.02 -- Neumo’s -- Seattle, WA
03.03 -- Doug Fir Lounge -- Portland, OR
03.05 -- Kilby Court -- Salt Lake City, UT
03.06 -- Hi Dive -- Denver, CO
03.07 -- Jackpot Saloon -- Lawrence, KS
03.08 -- The Waiting Room -- Omaha, NE
03.09 -- Varsity Theatre -- Minneapolis, MN
03.11 -- Lincoln Hall -- Chicago, IL
03.12 -- Grog Shop -- Cleveland, OH
03.13 -- The Summit -- Columbus, OH
03.14 -- Radio Radio -- Indianapolis, IN
03.15 -- The Old Rock House -- St. Louis, MO
04.15 -- Hoxton Bar and Grill -- London
04.16 -- Fleche d’Or -- Paris
04.18 -- Knust -- Hamburg
04.20 -- Gleis 22 -- Muenster
04.21 -- Werkstatt -- Cologne
04.22 -- Schlacthof -- Wiesbaden
04.23 -- Beatpol -- Dresden
04.24 -- Lido -- Berlin
04.26 -- Melkweg -- Amsterdam

Review: Frightened Rabbit | Liver! Lung! FR! [MP3s]

"Good afternoon shoppers, and music fans, passers-by... We're Frightened Rabbit from Glasgow."

This is how band fronter Scott Hutchison opened last year's desperate, fire-and-brimstone-filled live release EMusic Sessions: Live At Urban Outfitters -- SXSW 2007. That short collection captured Frightened Rabbit performing when it was still a trio, but the differences between it and the largely acoustic Liver! Lung! FR!, to be released by Fat Cat next week, are more pronounced than the simple expansion in personnel. The band's The Midnight Organ Fight will likely begin appearing on blogger's year-end lists of favorite records any day now [we reviewed it here], but the new live collection may actually say more about the artistic development of the quartet and where it is in its career.

Studio albums -- at least the good ones -- beckon for scrutiny and decoding, but live records serve as even more conspicuous markers in the life of a band: "this is what we sounded like this night." Liver! Lung! FR! was recorded July 30 of this year at Glasgow's Captain's Rest in front of a hometown audience, and during the performance the quartet was joined by friends including labelmates The Twilight Sad's James Graham and fellow Glaswegian scene-maker Ross Clark. It is a warm, well-arranged and gentle performance among friends, a far cry from the gritty set the band delivered -- along with some hysterically bawdy banter -- the prior year in Texas amid the stream of faux-hipster commerce.

The contrast between the two live collections is perhaps no more apparent than when considering the versions of "The Modern Leper" performed during each set. On Liver! Lung! FR! the pounding arrangement and nihilistic lyrics are toned down and adorned with chimes, vocal harmonies, a keyboard part and additional guitar work. Mr. Hutchison practically coos the words. The proceedings do not begin to approach the levels of chaos and unhinged-ness of the EMusic version. The latter rendition is driven by Hutchison's gritty rhythm guitar and Billy Kennedy's piercing six-stringed accents, and then over-driven by Grant Hutchison's weapons-grade drumming. And while the obvious stylistic refinements and softer tone set the very nice new record apart from its live predecessor, the more nuanced sounds of Liver! Lung! FR! and The Midnight Organ Fight likely have helped pave the way for perhaps the most curious recent development in the band's career. Frightened Rabbit has been visiting us in our living room via the soundtracks of nearly every television program Mrs. Clicky Clicky watches (we just noticed our favorite track "The Twist" in a recent episode of "Chuck").

All that career progress hasn't just fallen in Frightened Rabbits' collective furry lap; instead, the band, which was just in Cambridge in early July, has been touring relentlessly. It returns yet again Sunday when it performs at The Middle East Rock Club. And a return engagement to the Boston market is already on the books . According to Bradley's Almanac -- and now, the venue's web site -- Frightened Rabbit will return to Boston's Great Scott in January. This probably says as much about the band's relentless courtship of the United States as it does us, but currently we see Frightened Rabbit more times in a year than we see our own dear mother. Frightened Rabbit began several more weeks of U.S. dates last night in Ohio, and we've posted the rest of the tour dates at the bottom of this item. Directly below we're posting an MP3 from each of the band's live records to underscore the contrast we've been talking about.

Frightened Rabbit -- "Old, Old Fashioned" -- Liver! Lung! FR!
Frightened Rabbit -- "Square 9" -- EMusic Sessions, Live At Urban Outfitters -- SXSW 2007
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[buy Frightened Rabbit music from Newbury Comics here, EMusic here]

Frightened Rabbit: Internets | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

10/15 -- Music Saves -- Cleveland,OH
10/17 -- First Unitarian Church -- Philadelphia, PA
10/18 -- Music Hall Of Williamsburg -- Brooklyn, NY
10/19 -- Middle East -- Cambridge, MA
10/21 -- Lees Palace -- Toronto, ON
10/20 -- Petit Campus -- Montreal, QC
10/22 -- Skully's Music Diner -- Columbus, OH
10/23 -- Metro, Chicago -- IL
10/24 -- High Noon Saloon -- Madison, WI
10/25 -- 7th Street Entry -- Minneapolis, MN
10/28 -- Chop Suey -- Seattle, WA
10/29 -- Media Club -- Vancouver, BC
10/30 -- Holocene -- Portland, OR
11/01 -- Bottom Of The Hill -- San Francisco, CA
11/02 -- Bottom Of The Hill -- San Francisco, CA
11/03 -- Echoplex -- Los Angeles, CA
11/05 -- U31 -- San Diego, CA
11/06 -- Rhythm Room -- Phoenix, AZ
11/08 -- Haileys -- Denton, TX
11/09 -- Fun Fun Fun Fest -- Austin, TX

Selected Prior Frightened Rabbit coverage:
FR Live At TT The Bear's, July 2008
FR Live at the Middle East, March 2008
Review: Frightened Rabbit | The Midnight Organ Fight
FR Live at Great Scott, November 2007