The Independent
San Francisco, CA
26 January 2008

Plain rock. That was the new genre we decided was most descriptive of The Botticellis Saturday night at The Independent. As in one long plateau of nothing very wonderful or horrible.

This was my first time seeing them live, so I never like to make a final decision about a band without another go around. But come on, can I get a crescendo every once in a while? Please?

One of their early songs began with the lead vocalist forgetting the title and then stumbling through the first few bars before eventually falling in sync with his band mates. Not exactly confidence-building material.

And yet there was something beneath the flatlining – some kind of promise of more. More interesting melodies, more contrasting tones and volumes. Quite a few of their songs started out with great potential, with one line building on another (seemingly towards something), but they never seemed to result in anything of consequence, losing steam about 3/4 of the way through.

Here’s to that second show. The one with the fire in the belly. The one with the peaks and the valleys and the movement in between. Here’s to it.