Walking into the Frightened Rabbit show at Southgate House this past Thursday night, I had a reason to be optimistic. Their 2008 release Midnight Organ Fight was my top album of that year and their newest release Winter of Mixed Drinks has been a favorite so far this year. While being optimistic, I was worried though that my expectations were too high. After all with such great work on studio albums there were not many places this band could go except down in my eyes.

The sold out crowd in the ballroom at Southgate calmed one of my fears. As this was the band’s first ever stop in the Cincinnati area, I had thought that maybe Cincinnati would not hold up its end of the bargain as far as turnout goes, but that was not to be the case. As the five piece from Scotland took the stage it was clear too that the crowd was with them from the start. As the band launched into “Skip the Youth” the room went wild. Like many of the Frightened Rabbit songs, this one builds throughout and worked as a perfect opener.

The band then moved to two from Midnight Organ Fight, including the opener “The Modern Leper” and “Old Old Fashioned”. As the first chords of “The Modern Leper” played, the place went crazy and it seemed like everyone knew all the words, which was the case for all of the songs chosen for the evening from Midnight Organ Fight. As much energy as the crowd was giving the band, the Scots gave it right back with passionate performances and a little extra effort lyrically in the tunes from lead singer Scott Hutchision. The song choices could not have been much better to open as the fourth “The Loneliness and the Scream” brought us back to the newer material.

Throughout the set, the band rotated back and forth between their two most recent albums and the crowd was eating it up. While the trend continued in that the songs from Midnight Organ Fight were more warmly received, many of the new ones stood up well especially considering that the album has only been out about two months. Aside from a few small changes, most songs throughout the night were played pretty closely to the album versions, except “Backwards Walk” which is a slow tune to start on the album. This night at Southgate House it was played at a comparably blistering pace right from the get go.

With just a few tunes left to go in the main set, Scott let the crowd know that they were working on filming a video for their next single “Living in Colour”. There were signs posted as the crowd filtered in regarding the presence of video equipment and Scott encouraged everyone in Southgate House to really do their part during the song so that the video would come out well. Given where they were in the set, t was pretty clear that the song would be part of the encore. After the show, I found out through a conversation with Ben Davis of Bad Veins that they were the ones that came up with the idea while out on the road with Frightened Rabbit and that the video shoot was led by the Project Mill team.

The band finished out the set with four more tunes, again mixing songs from their two most recent albums. It was clear that they really knew how to put together a set to keep everyone involved throughout the evening. The closer of the main set was “Good Arms vs. Bad Arms” which left the crowd in a frenzy as the band exited the stage. Somewhere along the way that night to most everyone in attendance the realization came that we all caught a special band at just the right time. This was their first time through Cincinnati and it was going to be the last time they played a “small” venue like Southgate House. As for my optimism versus high expectations? The five piece from Scotland took my high expectations and blew them away.

While we knew that the encore would have “Living in Colour”, it started with Scott returning to the stage alone and playing the heart wrenching “Poke” all by himself. He stepped away from the microphone and unplugged his acoustic guitar and played it for the crowd with now amplification. While it did not work perfectly, it was still a great attempt at adding some intimacy to the sold out show. “Living in Colour” was in fact next and both the band and the crowd did its part to ensure that the video will come out looking really strong on tape. The night closed with “Keep Yourself Warm” which the whole room sang along to and left everyone wanting more as the band left the stage & the house lights quickly came up.

Between the incredible show that Frightened Rabbit put on, the video shoot, and a great opening set by Maps & Atlases (who will be returning to Southgate in August) this was definitely one of the best nights of live music Cincinnati has seen in 2010. In talking to Ben Davis after the show, who was one of many prominent Cincinnati musicians to catch the show, it sounded like their time with Frightened Rabbit went really well and that we should look forward to seeing the Scots back in the States come autumn for an even bigger tour. We can only hope that they come back through Cincinnati and give us another opportunity to catch what is sure to be one of the more successful stateside Scottish bands.

-Review by @cinnewton