I don’t care what your ticket stub says for the July 22 show at State Theatre, it was Anathallo and Rainer Maria who stole the spotlight that night. But I guess I am getting a little ahead of myself, so check it:

To begin with, Streets to Nowhere sounded like they were headed exactly where their name suggested. In what seemed like futile attempts to gain the audience’s attention, the lead singer continually belted out Conor Oberst-esque wails with no discernable emotion behind it except for maybe resentment at having to play over the din of incoming people. Really, there isn’t anything else worth mentioning.

When Anathallo hit the stage, they were phenomenal.  They would best be described as the love child of the Arcade Fire, Mates of State and Of Montreal, but with their own distinctive sound.  Even more outstanding than their music was the audience participation and overall stage presence which was comfortable and exciting all at once.  Though the show looked bleak at first, Anathallo almost single-handedly turned my night around.

In case you didn’t know how cute Caithlin De Marrais of Rainer Maria is, she’s absolutely adorable.  From the minute she opened her mouth to talk, I squinted one eye and feverishly tried to pick her up between my thumb and forefinger to put her in my pocket and take her home, but I just couldn’t.  Try as you might, you just can’t outsmart physics.  Regardless, Rainer Maria played an absolutely awesome set, with just the right amount of new and old songs to pique your interest and keep you singing along.  If you didn’t know any of the words, the guitar player’s quirky quips and epileptic-like playing spasms kept the show interesting to watch, despite not having any crazy Japanese pyrotechnics.

Ultimately, The Format fell short of what I expected. To begin with, they moved about five cardboard dogs on stage to match this vivid backdrop, making it look like an acid trip gone awry.  It was all downhill from there. The lead singer had a thing with clapping so at least every other song had some clapping part(s) incorporated … which got old after about, oh, the first song.  In addition to this, at one point in every song he felt it necessary to shout what the next verse was.  And I’m not sure where he was taking his cues from but, pacing the stage while shaking your hair into your face doesn’t exactly qualify as good stage presence.  I know there are some of you out there who will disagree and probably be offended by what I’m saying (probably those of you who fired up your Zippos at the first sound of slow chords) but the fact is The Format was built up to be a let down.

All in all, it wasn’t a bad show, but I’m standing by the fact that Anathallo and Rainer Maria carried it.