LOS ANGELES, CA- If anybody ever complains to that modern music is missing that classic pop-rock sound ubiquitous of era when The Police and Tear For Fears ruled the radio waves, you can just shush them tell them that they just haven’t been looking in the right direction. Do they even know about The Night Game?
In the ever discerning city of Los Angeles, this band, fronted by Martin Johnson (a prolific songwriter who also fronted the band Boys Like Girls) packed the venerable El Rey Theatre on a weeknight. With only four singles released to the public, this was, in and of itself, an impressive feat. More impressive, those in attendance knew all of the words to those four songs.
Passing time talking with some fans in the audience before Martin and company took the stage, I spoke with a group of girls who enthusiastically informed me that they had basically been following the band on their west coast stint. Having attended the shows in Santa Ana, Seattle and Portland prior to their evening at the El Rey, with plans to head down to San Diego for the band’s gig at the Soda Bar the following night, these women knew what I knew; Martin Johnson knows how to write killer songs and The Night Game, especially the otherworldly electric guitar playing of Kirin J Callinan, know how to execute them on stage.
What makes The Night Game’s music so engrossing are the huge hooks and the catchy melodies; essentials of any pop hit. In their recordings, there’s an earnest grandeur to their sonics, but without any hint of them pushing too hard to make it sound big. It’s a sound that is organically sweeping by virtue of the notes that were written, not by any studio trick as far as I can tell.
On this night, that huge sound was accompanied by stage and lighting production that was suited for a stadium performance. As the multi-rowed, lined spotlights flickered and illuminated the band from the rear, their silhouettes danced about the stage to the music. It was production fit for pop superstars, let alone an up and coming band with only four singles to their name.
What I found particularly interesting was how they incorporated covers into their performance. In a mash up of “Kids In Love”, the band seamlessly weaved in Annie Lennox’s rendition of “No More I Love You’s”, which so happened to be Annie’s highest charting solo single in the United Kingdom and won her a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1995. They also performed a shortened cover of Michael Jackson’s “Man In The Mirror”, a song that happens to be, IMHO, one of the greatest pop songs ever written with one of the greatest key changes ever… period.
Some unknowing observer may point to those selections and scoff at the seeming audacity that a new band would have the cajones to cover a pair of pop classics, but they just haven’t heard The Night Game’s music yet, because it fit in perfectly, both in tone and grandeur, with the rest of their set. I just can’t wait for them to release their debut album, so that they won’t have to fill out their playlist with other people’s music. I think their own will do just fine.
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LIVE CLIPS
The Night Game at El Rey 3/21/18. Thought and photos coming to @BlurredCulture soon. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/fgpLzfGQlo
— Derrick K. Lee (@methodman13) April 2, 2018
The Night Game at El Rey 3/21/18. Thought and photos coming to @BlurredCulture soon. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/8Zf0xUL5ID
— Derrick K. Lee (@methodman13) April 2, 2018
The Night Game at El Rey 3/21/18. Thought and photos coming to @BlurredCulture soon. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/LtzICwW860
— Derrick K. Lee (@methodman13) April 2, 2018
