Katie Paysinger

I am a big believer in the power of an opening act in all forms.
The doormat for your front door says something about you and your home. A voicemail recording says a bit about the kind of person you are calling. An opening act for a concert says a great deal about the band you are expecting, and it can make or break a show.
In most cases, the latter is the unfortunate outcome.
However, at Brett Dennen’s concert at Portland’s Crystal Ballroom on March 13 the show was made with his selection of brother-and-sister duo Angus and Julia Stone as the opener.
Dennen, the emerging artist with the hit “Make You Crazy,” is worthy of praise on his own, but the Stones highlighted the performance.
The venue was packed with late teens and 20-somethings, but one never feels uncomfortable at the Crystal Ballroom. I honestly believe they pump something into the air, because it is unlikely you will have a bad night there. Conan O’Brien was in Portland earlier that day promoting his new venture on “The Tonight Show,” so the anticipation was high to see if he’d show up for a little concert culture that night. Or maybe that was just me.
Starting fashionably late, the Stones took the stage. In a flowing, flower-power dress for Julia, and Angus rocking the look of never having seen a razor in his life, both looked like they stepped onto the stage directly from the ’60s.
They had a mysterious accent while singing, and it wasn’t until later while doing some research did I realize they are originally from Australia. They both sang with calm but fierce attitudes and sound like something you might have heard on the “Juno” soundtrack. Both are heavily musically gifted. Julia did vocals while playing the trumpet, piano and harmonica, while Angus stayed strong on the guitar and vocals.
Naturally, I purchased their album, “A Book Like This.” While in its own right amazing, it was a disappointment compared with their powerful renditions of the same songs live.
Dennen came out later with a powerhouse band and unique quirks that made his show entertaining. An eclectic performer, he mixed fun dance numbers with soulful ballads throughout the show.
Fast-forward two weeks, and I found myself at the Wonder Ballroom in Portland in a room full of Disney-channel-wannabe-punk rock tweens going through puberty and their parents lining the walls. I’m there to see OK Go, the Grammy-winning band and creator of the famous “Here We Go Again” treadmill video.
Granted, there was a fair amount of college-aged attendees thrown in the blend, but I felt like I was back in junior high.
OK Go proved it was worth the drive once they finally appeared, but it was its opening acts that did them in before they even stepped out. IO Echo and Jaguar Love got the crowd going—as in out the door.
IO Echo was a group of unhygienic men with a lone female lead singer who had the tendency to scream at you while walking around the stage pretending to be a zombie.
No one likes zombies.
And no one likes zombies trying to pull off the school girl uniform-goth-rocker-chic look. It didn’t work. She should have asked me before getting dressed that evening.
The group in itself reminded me of what I might find if I ventured out into the park at night with the nocturnal dirt people. Bad things happen with the nocturnal dirt people.
Jaguar Love, a male duo of Portland natives, was no better. More excessive screaming, but this time there was just a lot of jumping. It was icing on the cake when they both jumped off stage into the audience and then proceeded to continue “singing” and playing guitar. If you’ve ever been to the Wonder Ballroom, you know the space is just not big enough to justify such a rock star move. They did have cool band T-shirts, though.
Luckily, OK Go and the band’s front man Damian Kulush, a self-proclaimed sarcastic asshole, saved the night with their witty banter and creative stage performance. The feedback from Damian’s amp provided a technical difficulty for the first two songs, but they pulled through.
Spraying the audience with confetti and tossing out a dozen plastic tambourines, they were interactive and entertaining. Words to the wise, though: Next time, don’t put fans through two hours of torture before deciding to play.