Evangelicals come home. Hallopolis 08

I was late to the show. I missed the comedy and the opening band. But, I was there to welcome my friends home from a long, grueling tour.

When I showed up, around 11:00, the parking lot across from Opolis was nearly full. Wow! And, there were a ton of people milling around in costume outside the venue. As I approached, I only recognized one face in the crowd. Wow! Is this the new crop of OU freshmen? Are they really this into music? I hope so! It was a different crowd. Very few familiar faces. And, these kids were pushing their way to the front to see the band. Rather than be upset that these punks were pushing me around, I figured it was a good sign that they seemed to care about the music. At least half of them did. The other half spent the entire time outside. Oh well, you can't win 'em all. Nevertheless, this was one of the best, most enthusiastic crowds I've seen for Evangelicals in Norman. Hopefully, it's a sign of things to come this year and for at least a few years to come.

Evangelicals came home with a very tight, very intense set that's been honed to perfection from nearly two months on the road. They kicked things off with Bellawood, which is probably my favorite song from their usual set. When Josh Jones sings, "There's a monster, inside of me", you can see in his eyes that this is not melodramatic posturing. Josh is a born showman. He's fantastic as a frontman. But, there's something very real about what he gives you from the stage.

After the opening tune, they plowed through fantastic versions of most of the songs that I saw them playing this summer on tour. After Paperback Suicide (another personal fav), things got creepy, though. They played a cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' I Put a Spell on You, that was tailor made for a creppy Halloween show. It's probably the "heaviest" song that Evangelicals have ever played. Having recorded a version of this song last year that was sort of pieced together, it was pretty great to see how they interpreted it as a band. This song was fucking huge.

Skeleton Man and Halloween Song rounded out the spooky jams for the evening, before the band closed with Another Day. It was a great night. A spectacular homecoming from one of Norman's most prized musical treasures. And, a fitting occasion for their return.

It's truly scary to see how much better they get every time I see them.