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The Marquis heats up on a weeknight
Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, among the most underappreciated indie bands around, took to the Marquis Theater stage Wednesday night in true D.I.Y. style. After the band members set up their own gear and joked with the sound guy for a few minutes, Leo shrugged out of his battered denim jacket, grabbed the microphone and started the set by simply saying, "Hi."
Leo, whose brand of verbose folk-punk has seemingly been on the verge of making him "indie-famous" for the better part of a decade, drew a modest but zealous crowd. The band opened with several tracks from the new album "The Brutalist Bricks" and the upbeat, hard-driving "Living with the Living" before running helter-skelter through the Pharmacists' catalog. At several points, they toyed with electronic and doo-wop elements, but mostly it was a straight-ahead garage rock show with deceptively complex licks and lyrics.
Opening band Lionsized came through with a rocking Descendents-esque set (and lead singer), while Irish middle act So Cow confused everyone by badmouthing Ted Leo and The Pharmacists one moment then dedicating a song to them the next.
