IO Echo at the Troubadour

I last saw IO Echo in February at The Roxy. After over six months, it was definitely time to catch one of their sets again. I wasn't sure what to expect. I know their show at The Roxy was well attended, but it was also a promoted event by KROQ (if I recall correctly.) On the other hand, they recently opened up for Nine Inch Nails.

I arrived at the Troubadour at around 9:15 p.m. I got there just in time to catch Funeral Party. At the time, there were probably 50 people inside the Troubadour. I couldn't help but wonder if they were in for a disappointing attendance figure.



I had no need to worry about a disappointing attendance figure. As Funeral Party played their set, folks started to trickle through the door. By the time IO Echo got onto the stage, the Troubadour must have been close to a sold out status.

Troubadour isn't the biggest venue and IO Echo isn't the biggest band (yet), but it sure felt like a mini-big time band setting. As the stage was getting set up, someone came out and tossed out a handful of IO Echo t-shirts. The crowd went crazy for them. And then the lights went out and a cheer went up. They didn't come out on stage; however. An emcee came out to introduce them. Note: it is probably still too early to tell 9/11 jokes/comparisons. The emcee said something like, "If IO Echo was a storm, they'd be the 9/11 of storms." The crowd actually went quiet. Perhaps it was my imagination, but the crowd definitely seemed to just quiet down.

The error in comment was soon forgotten, because IO Echo came out on stage and the crowd went crazy. As you can see below, IO wore a white costume that billowed throughout the set.









The below photo shows the billowing of the dress. I said to myself that it billowed like a balloon. She said it looked like an angry marshmallow.

I love the below photo.



The below is a photo taken during my favorite song, "I'm on Fire."







The one thought about IO and her performance. She looked in command of the stage. She's always given a great performance so perhaps I should restate the above. During this set, she climbed up the lighting structure, which I've seen her do before so it isn't like she's ever been a performer to just stand around in one place; however, for some reason, I just felt there was a difference this time around versus previous shows. Trying to nail down something here: maybe my sense was that she was able to better relate to the audience. I'll stick to that.



Crowd. As mentioned, the Troubadour was packed. I was able to get myself into the second row. A young lady pushed herself in front of me, pushing me back a bit. She asked if it was cool. I said sure, but then a couple decided to join her, which pushed me even further back. Okay, not so cool. I wasn't that far back, but it hindered my ability to get additional photos -- not that I don't have plenty posted here.

IO Echo ended their set with "Doorway."

They were cheered for an encore and came back on stage with a cover song. She ended the set with an Asian-like bow to the audience.

My last serious thought of the night while watching their set, "She paces the stage like a caged tiger. Beautiful and yet dangerous."

And as in previous blogs on IO Echo, if you'd like to read a past column I wrote up on intraffik.com, please click on the link.