LIVE: WEXT 4th Birthday Bash @ Valentine’s, 7/7/11

It was good times and a hot, sweaty time on stage for the WEXT birthday show at Valentine’s Music Hall in Albany last Thursday.

First up was the Lucky Jukebox Brigade, who gave a well-sung performance which got the show off to a good note. Next, Scientific Maps got everyone to lose weight with their “lo cal” set, which included a Kamikazee Hearts song, along with a couple of originals and more covers.

Olivia Quillio was the third act of the evening, sweating all her notes out to the audience with a uke/banjo mix. Accompanied by electric guitarist Meagan Duffy, the duo even tossed in a cover of the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back.” The crowd started getting in the show at this point with lots of dancing.

Finally, Sgt. Dunbar and the Hobo Banned mostly hung out towards stage left and started with a bunch of songs sung by Alex Muro. In the middle of the set Louis Apicello and Tim Koch got down with a cover of “Regulate,” which kept the crowd in constant motion. While Tim finished the set with his lead vocals, the crowd got into some random clapping and dancing.

The WEXT crowd – both listeners and on-air DJs – was in full force and hopefully will get good line-ups like this together in the future. It was great to see the Lucky Jukebox Brigade and Sgt. Dunbar on the same bill, as they match up well.

Review and photographs by Timothy Reidy