For this show, I had initially only gone to see Shakey Graves. I had seen many of his live performances online and was taken aback by his talent and intensity, and there was no way I was going to miss his stop in Lawrence.
As for Shovels & Rope, I had never heard of them before so I honestly had no idea what to expect. After Shakey grabbed everyone's attention with his one man show of singing, playing guitar, and a kick drum at the same time; out walked two darling people, Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent. They proceeded to put on a joyous show that left you in awe of their energy and dedication.
I was mostly glad that the venue was packed, there have been many times where I've been to The Bottleneck and the crowd is mostly me, my gear, and 10 other people enjoying the show. These two bands need a full crowd shaking their heads and stomping their feet along with them. It's a type of show where it doesn't matter if you like the music or not, you can't deny that these two bands composed of three people total, have talent and passion that can't (and shouldn't) be contained.
