By Pedro Paredes //
Father John Misty with King Tuff //
The Fillmore – San Francisco
April 17th, 2015 //
Bay Area music fans had a tough choice to make last Friday. As The Fillmore filled in to see Father John Misty, alt-J and Tycho were playing to a sold-out Greek Theatre across the bay in Berkeley.
At The Fillmore, you could overhear a few people in the audience saying that it was hard to choose which show to attend, while other FJM fans knew where their allegiances lied from the get-go, arriving at the venue early in hopes of standing in the front row.
King Tuff
Opening the night were garage rockers King Tuff, which proved to be an interest pairing with FJM. Though the audience wasn’t all that familiar with them, plenty of people dug their music, following lead singer/guitarist Kyle Thomas’ lead by their bobbing their heads to the beat. The band played a mix of tunes from its 2012 self-titled record and 2014’s Black Moon Spell, but the highlight of its set was “Anthem”, an appropriately-named tune given its sound. You could really tell that the three-piece was putting it all out there and enjoying every moment it was on stage.
The energy inside The Fillmore didn’t let up after King Tuff, as FJM and his bandmates opened with the first song off I Love You, Honeybear (read our community review here), which had the crowd quickly singing along. Between his power poses and stage antics, Joshua Tillman’s showmanship skills, of course, never disappoint — he could probably be a stand-up comedian if he wanted to, given the banter that ensues after each song. That, combined with Tillman’s music, make FJM one of the most entertaining shows you can see live nowadays. Yet, the question still remains: is Tillman simply playing a character?
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