Last night, after a most excellent Easter dinner with my family, Ursula and I headed over to the Lincoln Theater in Raleigh for Ayria with special guests The Ludovico Technique, Spider Lilies and Mecanikill.

First up, due to what was probably confusion on my part, we were early. VERY early, for the show. OK, no problem, we can hang out, talk to the friends we run into, watch some hockey on the bar TV…just sort of chill. For about two hours (oops) until Mecanikill hit[1] the stage.

Mecanikill is “rhythmic noise” which translated for Ursula and myself as “noise.” We’re not much for noise bands, and Mecanikill just didn’t do it for us. Actually, they sounded better outside and heavily filtered than they did in the venue.

So yeah, not for us. We went for a coffee run, since the next band wasn’t on for half an hour after Mecanikill finished. Ursula was flagging, and I never turn down coffee…

And then The Spider Lilies came on. I had never heard them before, and they knocked me senseless (in a good way). Seriously, Stacey can sing, and her guitarist knocked it out of the park. Let me illustrate how much I liked them : for one song, they had a guest belly dancer on. The girl could MOVE, but it barely registered because I was watching the singer & guitarist.[2] I picked up ALL of their CDs after their set, and you WILL be hearing them on In The Evening.

So after some brief new-fanboy-ing, And a run to the car to suck down more coffee, it was time for Ludovico Technique. Ursula and I disagree on their music – I mostly liked them, and she didn’t. We do agree on the stage show, though – not for us.[3] We retreated back to the bar for most of their set, and I enjoyed what I heard from there.

A short performance by a burlesque dancer[4] between sets, and it was time for Ayria.

Ayria did NOT disappoint. Her voice is amazing, and the band was both talented and energetic. They had the crowd dancing for the ENTIRE hour and a half they were on, which is a feat after midnight on Easter. *grin*

One of the things I like about the smaller venues like this is you get a chance to TALK to the artist after they come off stage. Jennifer (of Ayria) is VERY nice off stage, and she not only signed the CDs I picked up, but gave me (and other fans) a hug after. I may have squee-ed a little when we were walking to the car.

So yeah, totally worth being up until about 3am for. I don’t know if Ursula agrees, since she was basically sleep-walking by the time we got home, but I had fun, and you should go check out The Spider Lilies and Ayria right now.

[1] Hit may be an understatement. More like crashed and burned.
[2] Ursula checked my pulse a couple of times, just to be sure I wasn’t dead.
[3] Maybe I’m old, but strobes+zombieface+thrash-dancing on stage just didn’t do it for me. I thought is actually detracted & distracted from the music.
[4] It involved a metal bra and an angle grinder. Heavy Metal, baby!