Allah-Las
w/ Tim Hill and Sam Burton
The Lodge Room – Los Angeles, CA
Wednesday, November 15th, 2023
Review/Pics: Manuel Gay
A few years ago, I discovered Allah-Las in a very unconventional fashion. It was reported in the news that one of their upcoming shows in the Netherlands had been cancelled after a potential terrorist attack was prevented at the venue. This happened roughly two years after the 2015 Paris attacks where I was living at the time and where two people I knew had lost their lives. I am forever grateful that I did not attend the Eagles Of Death Metal concert that night, being somewhat of a fan. So, I figured I would give this band a listen out of curiosity. I really enjoyed their first three albums and since then have kept going back to see what Allah-Las has been up to. Fast forward a few years and I pencil down in my calendar an upcoming show for them in Los Angeles, the place that I now call home. I was very excited to finally see them live and get to shoot and review the concert. Spoiler alert, it was a little bit of a disappointment.
The show started around 8:30pm with Tim Hill who was backed by two musicians. Tim sings his own blend of mellow folk and americana while he alternates between keyboards and guitar. The sound seemed low, maybe because there were no drums or percussions of any kind. Only a keyboard on the right side of the stage and another musician center stage who played guitar or saxophone depending on the songs. If anything, it forced the crowd to be quiet to be able to hear well.
Tim thanked the audience for clapping in between songs and introduced the musicians, but he didn’t talk much more than that. The show felt very intimate and almost emotional. The musicians played from the heart and there is no doubt that the audience could sense it.
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At 9:15pm, it was Salt Lake City musician Sam Burton’s turn to step on the stage as the venue was getting more and more full. Although in the same style as Tim Hill, this set felt more energetic. Sam’s band was a more traditional line-up with two guitars, drums, bass, keyboards, and a back-up singer.
The setlist included songs from his two albums, but the show was a good opportunity for him to showcase material from his newly released Dear Departed album. I was not familiar with the artist but I enjoyed the performance even though this is not usually my cup of tea. Sam’s seventies-tainted folk and his great musicians conquered the whole crowd, not only me.
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By the time Allah-Las hit the stage, the venue was packed as this was the second night of two back-to-back sold-out shows at the Lodge Room. LA is their hometown, so needless to say they have a solid fan base over here. The band opened with “No Werewolf” from 2014 Worship The Sun. This song encapsulates the Californian surf rock spirit and if you close your eyes you might just hear the waves crashing on the beach. The stage was very dark with only some back lighting and very quickly the musicians disappeared in a smoke-machine cloud. It made it very challenging to get good shots, as I could barely see Spencer on the bass and never clearly saw the keyboard player.
The bands’ style could be described as a “chill 60’s nostalgia rock” which I like, but it felt to me that the live performance of some songs was a little too “chill”. I had a difficult time getting into it. I had never seen them live before, so I’m not sure if it is the usual rendition you should expect when seeing them perform. The setlist covered mainly the first and last two albums.
Matt Correia took charge of the vocal duties from behind his drum kit for “Prazer Em Te Conhecer” on which he uses his native Portuguese. The song got a nice reaction from the crowd. A good portion of the second half of the show came from the 2012 self-titled album which has its share of crowd pleasers, such as “Sacred Sands” or the show closer “Catamaran”. I would like to see them live again in the future to hopefully get a better experience as maybe I was not in the right mind set for this show.
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