Local H, hitting the stage – July 21, 2014 at The Depot
Back on July 21, 2014, I saw a triple bill of Local H, Helmet and Filter. The deal was buy one ticket, get one free. $30 for myself and a good friend that loves music. Not a bad deal. And it was at The Depot, which is pretty great for concerts.
Local H
Scott Lucas belting out a Local H song
I’m going to say this right up front. I fucking love Local H. I’ve been listening to their music since 1996 when the song “Bound For The Floor” came out and flooded alternative radio. I’ve only seen them live once before in 2008, so I was excited to see them live again after almost 6 years. They did not disapoint.
Ryan Harding, the newest drummer for Local H
There are two members of the band: Scott Lucas on vocals, guitar and bass [he uses a modified guitar that is strung for both] and Ryan Harding on drums and percussion. Ryan has only been with the band less than a year but is pretty powerful and puts in a great performance. The band played a 45 min set, which in my opinion, was not long enough. After opening with a cover of Lorde’s “Team”, they jammed through “Bound For The Floor”, “California Songs”, “High-Fiving MF”, “All-Right (Oh Yeah)”, “Fritz’s Corner”, “Back In The Day”, “Another February” and a new song called “Misanthrope”. A great set overall.
Scott Lucas during “California Songs”
I knew just about every song and every word and sang along. When their set was over, I was both happy and sad as I wanted more. Now to wait for the next band – Helmet.
Helmet
They sucked. Big time. I didn’t bother to take any photos of their performance. In fact, I couldn’t wait for them to get off the stage. They played at least an hour, which was 55 minutes too long. I can’t remember a band that I’ve seen in many years that I wanted off the stage as much as I wanted Helmet to end their set early.
What really makes this kind of sad is that I saw Helmet back some 21 years ago. And they were great. Guess time is not always kind to every band. And Page Hamilton, either. Maybe they were better at other shows, but for this Salt Lake resident, they were pretty bad.
Filter
A blurry capture of Richard Patrick during the opening of their set
I had never seen Filter before, but knew their songs over the years. Their set started off with a slight limp, but improved by the second or third song. Richard Patrick is the leader of the band and still has some great vocal chops.
The band Filter on stage – July 21, 2014 at The Depot
While they were much better than Helmet, the band seemed to lack something. Perhaps it’s an age thing as well. They played most of their hits like “Trip Like I Do” and “Take A Picture”. I left before the last song, which was most likely “Hey Man, Nice Shot” as I had to catch a train to get back to my car [trains don’t run past 11:30pm for the most part].
All I can say is: I wanted more Local H.