(Editor’s Note:  Clevelanders, we have to band together and begin getting to concerts on time.  This whole notion of showing up fashionably late for concerts is for the birds.  Some of us have day jobs and a Mother’s Day concert is something my oldish ass needs to wind down.  When an opening act looks out at the audience at 8:00 and sees sixteen people milling around, you can be assured they’ll just go on back in the back and continue firing it up until a few more peeps roll in.  Cleveland scenesters unite!  It’s a negative feedback loop: we get late, they get later.  Maybe this happens other places too, but, together, we can all get home before one.  In other news, we’re tired of taking pictures with our point and shoot camera, but our mortgages prevent us from doing better.  Send us your pics.  We’ll give you credit.)

San Francisco quartet, Papercuts, served as the warm up feature.  This is an interesting pairing for this leg of the tour, as the gravelly vocals and dreamy pop currents don’t exactly line up with Vetiver’s cool Sunday morning warmth.  Nonetheless, the dudes showed up in fine form, belting out five or six tracks before taking a breath.  They were certainly synthesizer heavy and lead vocalist Jason Quever has a smoky and distinct set of pipes to match his tightly mastered rhythm and lead guitar work.  In a majority of the songs, he’d switch back and forth between the keys and the guitar without missing a note in the microphone.  Papercuts is well worth getting to the show early because you’ve got to love a band that can display pop hooks with snobby assurance.  These guys are the real deal.  Their closing track, John Brown, was a great choice, as they turned the amps up a few notches and jammed out until everyone was good and ready for Vetiver to hit the stage.

We’ve been listening to Vetiver for quite awhile now, and their newest release, Tight Knit is one of the most crisp and chilled out albums we’ve heard this year.  Vetiver started the set with solid tunes from their new release, Tight Knit, swaying through “Rolling Sea” and “Sister” right off the bat.  It seemed that the crowd might not be jam-packed with old school Vetiver fans, so it was a shrewd maneuver.  The rest of the set oscillated nicely between new tracks and choice older nuggets.  Andy Cabic has a crack team of musicians touring with him and the chops showed from the jump.  The band had a bit of a detached, laid back stage presence which worked perfectly with the tunes; despite the mellow appearances, they laced into the faster songs and bathed the cooler tracks with the warm glow that we’re used to from the recorded material.  (Odd side note:  the guitarist looked strangely like Henry Rollins, which was weird.)

That Cleveland crowd that our editor disparaged for tardiness above really got into the groove when Vetiver launched into some of the more toe-tapping material.  Hipster ladies were twirling their second-hand skirts throughout “More of This,” which is a semi-dance tune on the record but a full on alt-country hootenanny live.  Most of the songs the band played had that punched-up quality; the fills were a little fancier, the vocals were a touch more emotive and the vibe was a bit more urgent than the recorded material.  We’re not saying that there was an electronic remix in the set, but the songs have a bit more spice on the stage.  In our review, we called this Sunday morning breakfast music; live, it’s more like a Saturday brunch.

Clear highlights included “Another Reason to Go,” which sounded oddly naked without the funkified horn section; after a second to adjust, it was easy to realize that it was just as good.  They also played a Townes Van Zandt cover that I wasn’t nearly hip enough to know the name of.  Throughout, there were awesome little musical moments: soaring three part harmonies, understatedely awesome drum work and, overall, a locked-inedness that was a treat to see.

Folks who made it all the way to the end had the pleasure of an all throwback encore, with “Blue Driver” and “Won’t Be Me.”  It was a nice reminder that Vetiver was making records before 2009 (and they were good).  Sadly, we have no setlist to share.  A lady in a skirt ducked in front of me as I was making my beeline and I didn’t want to go in elbows high, ala Dwight Howard.  I could have out boxed her out and scored the setlist, but I would have felt like a dick.  If you are that lady, shoot us a pic.

While we did not score the setlist, we did get good video of “Everyday.”  Our editor is lukewarm on our point and shoot pictures, but burning hot on our point and shoot video.

Lastly, cause we like you, we’ve got a Papercuts track to share.  Until next time, keep it real and, more importantly, leave your house earlier in the future.

“Future Primitive” – Papercuts