American Rock, Care of Europe

Last night, Seattlest was at the sweltering sold-out Croc for the one-two punch of La Rocca and Phoenix on the final night of their U.S. tour. For a rock show, the crowd was fairly clean-cut; like, we totally ran into a girl from pilates. Besides an overabundance of polo shirts (non-popped, thankfully) and short-sleeved button-downs on guys and a few overly made-up girls, nothing too egregious. Our companion described the audience as "the coolest kids in Kirkland."

As to the music, Irish quartet La Rocca kicked things off with a 45-minute set of their California-twinged blues rock, mining most of their debut release, The Truth. Some of the songs really struck us as reminiscent of Exile on Main Street, albeit performed by guys in blazers and vests. This is not necessarily a bad thing. For us, the highlight was their final song "Cambodia"--which we imagine is not so much about the country as a child whore--and which is our absolute favoritest La Rocca song ever.

From there, it was time for Phoenix. A few ways you can tell the band is French:
1. Their first song of the night name-drops Napoleon.
2. They thank the crowd with a "Merci Beaucoup."
3. They count off a song with a hearty "un, deux, troi, quatre."
4. They're pretty, in that filthy European kind of way.

In the past, Phoenix had more of an electro aspect, but their newest release, It's Never Been Like That, is much more straightforward in the pop-rock. These guys were nothing if not professional, which makes sense considering they've already got a live album under their fashionable belts. The band's polished sound and lead singer Thomas Mars' croon carried over well live, though Mars occasionally delved into the handbook of melodramatic singer techniques (sporadic use of vocoder, waving around the mic stand, staring out into the crowd, demanding more hands in the air). Despite, or perhaps because of these tactics, the crowd was highly enthusiastic, responding to all the new songs as well as cheering for the older hits, like "Everything is Everything." Of course, it is next-to-impossible to resist charming European men.

Photo care of Flickr / user The Fanalyst.