the o's

A little over a month ago, I braved the soul-crushing drive from Houston to Dallas for a nice little weekend of music: moe. on Friday at the Lakewood and Rhett Miller and the O’s on Saturday at the Granada. The Saturday show had the bonus multiplier of being a benefit show for a worthy charity: The Breathe Easy Foundation, who raise money for Cystic Fibrosis research. Your primary familiarity with Rhett Miller is likely through his work with the Old 97’s, but he’s also released a string of solid solo records since 2001, beginning with my favorite in the group The Instigator. This was my first time seeing him fly solo; however, having seen the 97’s around twelve times, I figured I could count on a few things from his performance. Namely that it would be high-energy, crowd-pleasing, and feature at least a few sexually-confusing moments lost in Rhett’s charm. When he’s onstage performing, the man radiates an earnest love for both his craft and the crowd who’s there to revel in it. The lyrics he writes are packed with clever and quotable one-liners and catchy-but-not-cloying choruses that lend themselves quite perfectly to beer-buzzed singalongs. Before Rhett took the stage though, one of the best new bands in Dallas music, The O’s, were due to perform. Well, technically the first performer of the night was Salim Nourrallah, but we unfortunately missed him (blame it on gravity and/or the Barley House). Read on for a full recap of the night along with plenty of pics and videos after the jump.