at The Tractor Tavern

{Photos by Jason Tang in the TIG Flickr Photo Pool}

I've been doin' the blogging thing for this here imaginary blog since around 2005, but living down in LA I don't get to see many (or any) Northwest shows. So when I booked a weekend trip to Seattle, and my concert buddy suggested a night at Tractor Tavern, I was -- as we say in California -- "totally stoked."

We arrived at the tail end of Willy Mason's set, and waited about fifteen minutes for local act Fences to take the stage. From listening to their Myspace beforehand I was looking forward to some breed of acoustic folk/pop -- unfortunately for the live show, something got lost in translation. Tattooed lead singer/songwriter Christopher Mansfield's acoustic guitar was backed at various times by a banjo, bass, guitar, drums, xylophone and synthesizer, but either I was too far to the side or the mix just wasn't great for his set, because half the instruments were drowned out by the other half. The band started off strong with a couple banjo-based songs, but about halfway through I was more than ready for the next set.

 

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