Durand Jones & The Indications with special guest 

The Savage Radley

Headliners Music Hall

Louisville, Kentucky

April 25,2019

Photos and review by Tony Vasquez

Photo Galleries: 

The Savage Radley

Durand Jones The Indications

Louisville, KY- As the crowd began to gather to catch Durand Jones & The Indications at Headliners Music Hall the band members could be seen saying hello to friends and fans who made the trip from Bloomington, IN. The band met as students at Indiana University in Bloomington and recorded their self-titled debut album. The vibe in the venue was laid, but that’s to be expected for a Thursday night crowd. The show was the bands second to last spring tour stop before they will play a couple of dates in New Orleans and Bloomington in May and hit the run again in June.

Up first was Western Kentucky based The Savage Radley. Lead by songwriter Shaina Goodman on guitar and with her twangy vocals singing about her account of her homeland in Murray, KY. This narrative is most relevant in the song “Little River Town.”

Shaina was in a talkative mood throughout the night covering a couple of different topics including apologizing for only having wrinkled concert t-shirts for sale. Before playing their last couple of tunes, she asks the crowd how many Hoosiers made it out to the show. The crowd loudly responded, and she wasn’t surprised given the fact the Durand and the boys started in Bloomington, IN. She responded by saying she liked that Durand comes from Louisiana because that makes him a real southern boy.

Throughout the night the four-piece band effortless blends the lines of Southern rock and indie rock to create their unique sound, which most of the material with the exception for a couple of new tunes come from the 2017 release Kudzu.

After a brief stage setup, Durand Jones & The Indications hit the stage. The sextet group includes Durand Jones on vocals, Blake Rhein on guitar, Aaron Frazer on drums/vocals, Kyle Houpt on bass, Steve Okonski on keys, and Alex on Saxophone. The guys open their set with the opening track “Make a Change” off their 2016 self-titled debut album. The crowd immediately began to dance along with the bands dynamic and groovy sounds. The night’s material comes mostly from the recently released American Love Call. Personally, the stand out tune from that material is “Morning in America,” which is the opening track to the latest album. Durand’s smooth vocals tell a story of bleak America with powerful lyrics that hit on issues of drug addiction and our divide country landscape. As the band’s jams during Blake Rhein’s guitar solo and the song fades to an end, Jones stands arms crossed and staring off in contemplation. During the song “Groove Babe” Jones did a call and response with both Alex on saxophone and Frazer on the drums too much of the crowd’s delight. Throughout the night the band switches lead vocals between Durand’s booming vocals and Frazer’s falsetto covering material from both their albums. They closed the night with a terrific cover of The Beatles “Don’t Let Me Down.”
The band will be on the road with several shows this summer. For more ticket info check out their website: https://durandjonesandtheindications.com

Setlist:
Make a Change, Circles, Don’t You Know, What I Know About You, Court of Love, Walk Away, Morning In America, How Can I Be Sure, True Love, After All The Lies, Groovy Babe, Long Way Home, Now I’m Gone, Is It Any Wonder, Smile
Encore: Too Many Tears, Don’t Let Me Down(The Beatles cover)