BY ANNA LAROCCO MASI// J Roddy Walston and The Business kept the energy levels high the entire night of their February eighth performance. Each person in the room was captivated by the sounds of the beaten piano, the epic guitar and bass riffs, and the drummer’s perfect pace.
J Roddy and The Business’s latest release, Destroyers of a the Soft Light, lives up to what critics are saying and their 9:30 Club performance matched the raw energy and out-of-studio feel the album was going for. Walston and The Business recorded the album out of an old abandoned warehouse, yet the tracks are filled with liveliness.
Walston and the Business are known as being a classic southern rock band, but I noticed the band moved beyond classic rock and into a pop/rock fusion. Yes, hey rocked the house, but it was the beaten piano sounds mixed with the guitar slide that created a haunting and energetic experience that kept the crowd on their toes. The industrial-feeling 9:30 Club was the perfect place to unleash their wild attitudes into the music and onto the fans, and the venue was packed!
My favorite moment of the night was when the band played “Heavy Bells,” at which point I realized that almost 2 hours had past, but had only felt like a moment. Often when I leave a concert, I am drained from dancing and standing on my feet. While this show was no exception, the performance also made me feel alive in the way only J Roddy can.