I'm officially another year older today, and officially... pretty tired and happy. I'm happy because I got to spend last night surrounded by some of my favorite people, and tired because I went to two great shows that rocked me until I could barely keep my eyes open and keep from slumping forward into my vodka tonic.

After dragging myself to Jed's post a long long long day @ the office, we made our way over to Bowery full of nervous anticipation at the Upwelling's big debut @ the venue opening for VHS or Beta (or beta and vhs, whatever you prefer). It was pretty exciting and sort of weird to see all of the usuals floating around the bar area downstairs while we waited for the show to begin... kind of surreal. Anyways, I downed my stella and got my camera out to take some pictures of the boys in their glory as they kicked off their set.

I gotta say, their nervousness was pretty much evident throughout, but I guess that's just to be expected with all the hard work and time that had built up before this show. The strongest moment in their set had to be "Annie On The Rooftop," which is a rocker with a little bit of an oldies flair to it. Since the first time I heard them debut it, that song has gotten much more polished and really stood out last night.

Otherwise, despite their nerves and some tuning issues during the set, I think overall the Upwelling left a good impression on a fairly crowded Bowery Ballroom (considerably more crowded for them than it was a year earlier when some band called the Killers were opening for The Stills... just sayin).

After this we headed over to Sin-e to see my new favorite sex... I mean band. Louis XIV. More on that and other pisces festivities soon...