Hymn for Her

The Magic Numbers @ Mercury Lounge 11/27/05
I slept on tickets for their sold-out show the next night at Bowery Ballroom, so when this "secret" (if it was so "secret", how come there were tickets sold on Ticketweb until the day of the show; not that I'm complaining, mind you, since I was able to get tickets that way, but I'm just saying) show was announced a few weeks ago, I got tickets right away.

And luckily, the band didn't disappoint. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to make it down to the venue in time because of some home improvement stuff that I was doing earlier (mad props to Sara for helping me out BTW), I missed opener David Kitt (who's touring with them on the remainder of their current U.S. tour) and right after I walked in the door and got a beer, The Magic Numbers went on. Good timing, huh? Anyway, they played for about an hour and no encore (it doesn't make sense to do one there anyway since there's no backstage area much like Maxwells). They played most of their excellent debut album, including "Mornings Eleven", "Love Me Like You", "Don't Give Up the Fight" and my favorite, the heart-wrenching "I See You, You See Me". Despite their sad lyrics, they give off such a great "good-time" vibe that's inescapable. As I've noted before, they're obviously influenced by a lot of late '60s West Coast stuff (think The Mamas and Papas, Buffalo Springfield and the like and you'll be somewhat close), but their '60s-isms are filtered through more modern UK acts like Teenage Fanclub and the like. Furthermore, their stage presence has improved tremendously since I saw them back in March (it was their 1st U.S. show ever) and they did a great version of Beyonce's smash hit "Crazy in Love", complete with audience sing-a-long, clapping and the like. In other words, it was a great time. If they came to your town, go see them.

PREVIOUSLY: My review of The Magic Numbers @ Sin-E back in March and some other stuff