I was unbelievably lucky that the Aggrolites were on tour out West at the same time I was out there.  This was the start of their short West Coast tour with the Boston band State Radio.  Like most Aggro fans, I like it more when they headline; but at the same time, I know they're still going to be awesome if they're not.

There were a few people that were there to just see the Aggrolites.  I thought there'd be more since it's kind of a hometown crowd, but I think being paired up with State Radio deterred some from coming out.  Maybe the show being at the House of Blues had something to do with it, too.  I'm not such a fan of the corporate chain-type venues and this was probably the first one I've been to.  This place had way too many rules to keep track of and it's kind of ridiculous that they force the underage kids to stay up in the seated balcony area.

 

 

State Radio started their set with a rock/reggae-ish song, which quickly answered my question as to why the two were on tour together.  They "kind of" went together.  State Radio is a three-piece, mostly indie rock band, but they had some reggae-ish and ska-ish beats.  They weren't exactly my cup of tea and I think they played way too loud.  If they just turned down a little, they would have sounded fine.  Maybe it's just me, but I don't like to have my insides rattling around from the overly loud bass.  I left probably a half-hour into their set because of it.

It was fun seeing the Aggrolites on the West Coast, but it didn't seem like their typical West Coast show.  The best part was hearing some new songs off of IV live.  Also, they have IV out on vinyl now for $20.  It only has 11 of the 21 songs that appear on the CD, but the vinyl comes with a free mp3 download of the entire album.