Miniature Tigers/Morning Benders Review @Johnny Brenda's

The short version: miniature tigers played all one one unreleased song. each new song sounded real good. but i only knew one song. morning benders played a fantastic set of songs from their newly released "big echo" LP.


the long winded tirade version:

Last April, I saw the miniature tigers open for the get up kids at the troubadour in LA. While I usually don't care for opening bands at this old old age, there was something about them that captured my attention. I loved the set, and ended up getting to a show the next day about 4 hours earlier than i would have just so i could watch them again. Again, they played a great set. I went on to find and enjoy every release they have put out, a demo EP, two 10" EPs, and a full length.

When I found out that they were going on tour, I was excited and upset at the same time. Excited because, great, I get to see this band! Upset because, they were not headlining the tour, but opening for a band I had never heard of, The Morning Benders. I decided to check out the morning benders, and was pleased with what i heard, but not entirely drawn in.

Then, my friend Mike Smeen said to check out Big Echo, the morning benders new record. I did and enjoyed it even more than anything I had heard from them so far, and this greatly excited me for the show.

So, I grabbed a ticket and drove to Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia to catch this show. Opening was Acrylics, with a female singer with an acoustic guitar, and a full electric band behind her. They sounded good.

Up next was what I had been waiting for, The Miniature Tigers. They opened with a song I had never heard. It sounded great. They played some more songs I didn't know. They all sounded great. After the third song, some people in the crowd started shouting song titles that they knew, these requests went unheeded. They played ONE song from their entire released catalog, bumming out even the people that only knew the single, "Cannibal Queen."

Here is the Setlist:

Unreleased New Song that no paying fan knew
Unreleased New Song that no paying fan knew
Unreleased New Song that no paying fan knew
Unreleased New Song that no paying fan knew
Tell It to the Volcano
Unreleased New Song that no paying fan knew
Unreleased New Song that no paying fan knew
Unreleased New Song that no paying fan knew
Unreleased New Song that no paying fan knew

(i grabbed the set list. this is it: mansion, bullfighter, tropical, dark tower, volcano, gold skull, japanese, lolita, coyote).

As they played their new songs, the people that were there for the morning benders were enjoying it, while the miniature tigers fans were just annoyed. when they played the one song, the people sang along and looked happy. Mix in 3-4 new songs, maybe, fine. But just one song that anyone knew? That's just disrespectful.

Before Morning Benders went on, I ended up talking with another MT fan who had said the set was "Garbage" (which i dont agree with. they played real well and the new songs sound great). I said, "If morning benders played just stuff from their new, released record, it would be a different story. i like it more than the first record, and at least we have had a chance to get to know it."

So the Morning Benders took the stage. They opened with "Stitches" from their newly released "Big Echo" album. It sounded good, and they went into "Promises", and the singer, Chris Chu, shook the venue stomping on the stage, bringing everyone into the moment. The percussionist from the miniature tigers played keyboard and drum for the morning benders set, his second show with them. He also really helped bring the sound together. The band went on to play an entire set consisting of songs from their new record, and the crowd loved it. They sounded great up to their last song, "Excuses," where they really brought down the house with the whole place singing "da da dum" over and over with no music playing. Fantastic set.

Setlist:
Stitches
Promises
Wet Cement
Cold War
Mason Jar
Hand Me Downs
Pleasure Sighs
All Day Daylight
Excuses

So what this show did was turn a miniature tigers fan who had never heard of the morning benders before, into a big morning benders fan. After the new miniature tigers LP is released, I'm sure it will be enjoyable seeing them again, but unless I hear them open with an old, familiar song at the Mercury Lounge next month, I'll be in the back.

The 4/22 mercury lounge date of this tour is sold out, but the morning benders are playing there the next week, 4/28.