Courtesy of Logan Daugherty
After a year of preparation, three bands with roots at NC State took over Lincoln Theatre on Jan. 11 with smiling faces, dreamy arpeggiating guitars and soaring riffs.
The first to perform was the Bell Tower Blues. The group delivered a set of oldies ranging from Prince’s “Purple Rain” to Jimi Hendrix’s “Wait Until Tomorrow,” as well as a few originals. Each player’s precision playing reflected a dedicated love of music.
After their set, Bell Tower Blues members buzzed about their performance, ecstatically finishing each other’s sentences.
“We won the [Battle of the Bands] competition last April, and the prize was to open up for a band at Lincoln Theatre,” said Justin Cristinziano, a fourth-year studying computer science and the drummer for the band. “And we found out back in November that we were on the bill with The Layaways and By George, two awesome, local, NC State bands, and we’ve been waiting until now.”
After the Bell Tower Blues’ set, The Layaways took the stage and delivered dreamy arpeggios, washed-out chords and smooth, melodramatic vocals. The band selectively sprinkled covers amidst their most original-heavy set to date and often dropped to two track tunes, utilizing the beautiful texture of lead singer Camden Willis’ voice over guitarist Oscar Valadez’s chorus-laden tunes.
“That was crazy; that was the first time I’ve been nervous for a show,” Mac Boland, a fourth-year studying forest management and guitarist for The Layaways said. “The first song, I was kind of shaking a little bit. But afterwards, seeing everyone sing back to us the two songs we have released was incredible. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.”
The Layaways have made the rounds at different underground venues in the flourishing NC State music scene — from Greek parties, house parties and Blue Door. But playing at Lincoln Theatre was a different experience.
“I think people-wise we’ve played for more, but this is the largest, most important, biggest venue we’ve played,” Boland said.
The night’s headliner, By George, took the stage after The Layaways. The band started their set with an arpeggiating synth as they launched into their first song of the night, an unreleased original titled “umbrella baby.”
The duo assumed an impressive stage presence with Tyler Ford, lead singer, urging the crowd to sing along and doing his signature crowd surf, later falling on stage before getting up and recovering to deliver two more songs. By George presented catchy hooks and familiar pop-rock tunes, covering songs by their inspirations — including The 1975, Two Door Cinema Club and Neon Trees — and showcased their palette of original songs, which included newly dropped single “vampire social.”
The production was extensive, as was made evident by the punch of the bass drums and the vibrant, flashing lights. To execute the performance, By George hired videographers, lighting technicians and a clothing vendor, among others, for the production.
“We realized that a successful musical act is an enormous group of people, but there have to be a couple faces for people to associate with the brand,” Ford said. “By George is our amazing manager Olivia Robertson, videographers, sound techs, lighting techs. … It’s like a twenty-person group, and all you see is the people on stage.”
By George isn’t new to Lincoln Theatre. They played at the venue last year with bands Harvey Street Co. and Late Notice and noted their growth since then.
“We played with [Harvey Street Co. and Late Notice] at Lincoln Theater [last year], and we didn’t expect that many people to come and then they did,” Ford said. “We didn’t have a show here — we rented the venue out and then sold tickets, and the venue was like ‘Oh, you guys do sell tickets.’ This is our first show here.”
For The Layaways’ Boland, the show represented the cycle of inspiration and performance that the music scene at NC State has provided.
“I remember I went and saw By George at Bowstring my freshman year, and I watched them play ‘Freakin’ out on the Interstate,’” Boland said. “Seeing that solo be played, I was immediately like, ‘I wanna play live music,’ and that makes me think there might be someone in the crowd that could come be the next Layaways, come be the next Late Notice, come be the next By George. Watching Bell Tower Blues play today made me so excited to come back and see them in a year … and the bands that will come after them.”