Mineral in Paris (@Le Glazart, 05/02/2015)

Back in July of 2014, after over 17 years of absence, the legendary Austin-based band Mineral announced that they would be reuniting. While this came off as a nice surprise to me as fan of the band, I had figured that this piece of news would only serve to further my frustration, considering that old-school emo bands seem to rarely ever tour outside of the States... hence my surprise and my excitement upon learning about the bands' European tour and their Parisian date. Having barely moved past the 3 year old mark back when the second wave of emo was in its prime time over in the US, I would have never imagined I would one day be able to witness a live show from one of the leading bands of the movement, let alone meet them for an interview.

Opening for Mineral was the UK based band Solemn Sun. The band previously known as Jim Lockey & The Solumn sun, decided to simply go by the name Solemn Sun after a change of musical direction, drifting away from their folk punk formula to a more ambitious alternative rock oriented sound. The freshly reborn act delivered a convincing performance tonight with some effective vocal melodies and pretty, airy guitar leads followed by loud powerful choruses. Other than the nicely arranged, spaced out clean guitar sections, the vocal delivery was great as well, with the clean poppy vocals occasionally backed up by some harmonies from the backing vocalists to add some texture to the somewhat dreamy yet straightforward feel of the songs.

After clearing up the stage and some last few sound adjustments, our headlining act timidly stepped on stage to pick up their instruments and introduce themselves. I couldn't help but feel this somewhat unusually timid introduction to very touching and all the more heartfelt and genuine. These guys are musicians, legends in their own right, but are first and foremost down-to-earth people who are here to connect and share their passion for music with an audience. The lights dimmed and Chris Simpson started playing the instantly recognizable first few notes from "Five, Eight and ten", the opening track off their debut album, under the thunderous cheers of an excited audience. I haven't had the chance to witness a Mineral back in the day, but I could only guess that the sound wasn't as good as it was tonight. One thing that I was also surprised and thrilled to promptly notice was Chris Simpsons' heartfelt vocals kept intact after all of these years. As with their studio efforts, the vocals were not always on key but just right, carrying the same emotionally gripping presence it had two decades ago (judging from old the live footage I've seen of them). Every member was at the top of their game tonight. When the band followed up their opening song by breaking out the classic "Gloria", I started to get goosebumps from hearing the stunning live rendition from a band that seemed to have never broken up in the first place. For the next hour and a half, Minerals' intimate set brought every one of us in the crowd back to the bands' hometown in Austin, Texas in the mid 90's, and boy did it feel great! The front rows of the audience jumped in excitement at the start of every song, smiling and hugging each other, making for a heartwarming atmosphere, while others enthusiastically were singing their hearts out to the lyrics.

In conclusion, Mineral have clearly stated with this first Parisian show that they are back with full force, ready to gracefully carry on where they had left off 18 years ago. The legacy of the band has yet to be put to rest, as I would go as far as to argue that the band still are at the top of their game as I can only imagine they must have been back in the day.

Robin.

I would like to send a very warm thank you to the band, to K&B as well as the staff from Old Town Bicyclette (OTB) booking for making the show as well as this article possible! Thank you!

Be sure to keep follow the bands as well as Old Town Bicyclette on Facebook and twitter as well as on their official webpages.
 

Old Town Bicyclette
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/OldTownBicyclette1
Official website
http://oldtownbicyclette.org/#!/events

Solemn Sun
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/s0lemnsun
Official Website
http://www.solemnsun.com/

Mineral
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMineralMusic
Twitter
https://twitter.com/officialmineral
Official Website
http://officialmineral.com/

Solemn Sun Setlist

Mineral setlist