Magnolia Electric Co. @ Higher Ground

Last night, Magnolia Electric Co. played the showcase lounge at Higher Ground. It was a good show with Jason Molina and company playing a lot of tracks from their new album, What Comes After the Blues, along with a few covers.


The highlight of the night was running into an old friend, Warren, from Montpelier who had moved to Athens, GA last summer. The odd twist is that, last summer, Warren had turned me onto Songs: Ohia which was Molina's band before starting Magnolia Electric Co. He had flown up from GA for the show and to visit with some friends so it was a complete but pleasant surprise running into him.

Warren's friends were also the first opening band, User Shorty Patent Co. However, I missed their set because I was putting my kids to sleep. I got there in time to see Grand Buffet perform but I spent their whole set catching up with Warren so I don't have much to say about their rapping. The only thing that caught my attention was at the very end of their set. As they were leaving the stage, one of the guy's came back to the mic to say, "Hey, I buried my grandmother today and she had more energy than some of you assholes tonight." A very touching moment in rock history.


The highlight of Magnolia Electric's set was the encore when they covered "Running with the Devil". Grand Buffet joined them on stage and it sounded pretty damn good. It even featured a solo on pedal steel lap guitar which is rare in Van Halen covers. Overall, it was a fun night with the unexpected benefit of seeing Warren. Good to see you if you are reading this.