The Bravery plays a show not to be missed. If you are one of those lazy “chumps” who didn’t get down to Lupo’s Thursday night, you should have and (you can quote me on this) that is exactly what you are. I don’t care if you had work Friday morning, and apparently neither did the crowd that packed Lupo’s.

I made sure to get there early to see local groups Penrose and Senior Discount. Going indoors at six sucks. Hugely. I know. But that’s the price we pay during the spring/summer, and it’s definitely worth it for the music. Moving into the summer, and in the interest of still seeing the best shows around, we would do best to keep that in mind.

I had Penrose in the studio last week for an interview on HomeBRU’d, so having gotten to know the guys, I was glad to see that they didn’t disappoint in concert. “Slight of Hand”, the almost-overwhelming opener for their recently released album Azimuth, went off without a hitch, but it was “Angels and Monikers” that I found most impressive. If you get to one of Penrose’s shows (and you should), instead of being that arse in the audience that keeps shouting “Freebiiiird!” (and gets punched in the face by the lead guitarist), I suggest you request “Angels and Monikers”. Like Penrose, the song performed live has teeth.

Senior Discount makes a splash wherever they go. This show marked a new beginning for the band with new bassist Alan Sousa. Their cover of The Little Mermaid’s “Kiss the Girl” was at the same time hilarious and charming. But it was another of their songs that became the conversation piece for the evening: “I’m Going to Kill You” (and that is pretty much the entirety of the lyrics) was discussed onstage by both Fiction Plane’s Joe Sumner and The Bravery’s Sam Endicott. After praise from Girl Talk at the Rock Hunt semi-finals, recognition from Sumner and Endicott leads me to believe that these guys have a very special sort of something going for them.

The Bravery picked an excellent touring companion in Fiction Plane. After almost stumbling into a full-fledged argument with a prominent figure in the local music media (who suggested that Fiction Plane was not as “musically gifted” as I thought they were), I remain fully behind my original assessment: Fiction Plane kicks ass. Joe Sumner (son of Gordon Sumner, a.k.a. “Sting”) gives his father a run for the money musically - but let’s not make too big a deal of their similarities and instead focus on Fiction Plane for what it is. Fiction Plane is charged - wild in an almost primal way - and yet produces moments that are ethereal and dreamy. Sumner’s glacial voice pierces through the music surrounding him, and his roving eyes only help to inspire the wildness I felt and have described. Guitarist Seton Daunt switches from lively rhythm to melodic notes seamlessly and drummer Pete Wilhoit keeps the entire set grounded with the crashing symbols that held the audience in time with the music. “Twin Sisters” was the clear crowd favorite - if you haven’t heard it, check out myspace.com/fictionplane and get ready to listen to it a few times in a row. At the end of the night, although Sumner may have leapt off his towering bass amp one too many times, it became clear that nepotism isn’t the only reason why they open for The Police - Fiction Plane knows how to play a concert.

The Bravery fill up space like you wouldn’t believe. Drawing heavily from their recently released The Sun and The Moon Complete, the black-clad stage-warriors filled Lupo’s with the most energy I’ve seen since Bloc Party came to town. Michael Zakarin is especially furious on lead guitar, but it is still frontman/vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Sam Endicott that draws the most attention. The roguish Endicott took the stage by force of character and held it with studio-quality vocals and enough energy to make Chernobyl look like Seniors’ Bingo Night. Give him a stage, and he knows what to do with it. “Believe” was clearly a big number for the group, but the energy they generated during “An Honest Mistake” was on the level of an M.I.A. dance party. We are lucky enough to be able to see The Bravery in Providence almost every year, so take a minute, think of the poor North Dakotans (who might get them in Fargo once this decade), and make sure you get yourself to their shows whenever you can.

As a WBRU Cheap Date, I’m absolutely positive that we were robbed during this concert. Bank robbed, in fact, by each and every person who showed (and who, by the way, still took a hit for the team by deciding that rolling out of bed the next day would be an unpleasant experience) because the show was worth an incalculably greater amount than the ticket price. Oh well… I got to see it for free. Hint: we’re still accepting applications for summer interns…

A sincere thank you to Paul of Someday Providence for the awesome pics:

Fiction Plane:

Senior Discount:

Penrose: