Deep in the heart of The Loop area lies Cicero’s, a restaurant/bar/nightclub all in one. I simply call it a good night out. Newly opened after a fire a few months ago, Cicero’s offers fine Italian dining for a late dinner, a bar and billiards to hang with the buds and a concert area to see the cream of the local crop.
On this particular occasion, I came to Cicero’s solely for its third annual Battle of the Jam Bands competition.
Though the outer bar and restaurant areas were bustling, there was a surprisingly small group in the nightclub room off to the side. It worked out, however, as some of the patrons liked to “groove” quite liberally.
I walked in during the opening numbers of the first act, Hip Grease. It consisted of a bass player, drummer, keyboardist, saxophone player and a guitar/trumpet player, and stayed mostly on the jazzier side of music. This was partly because they didn’t have a vocalist, so they do little else.
What they did do, they did well. It had movement, it had swells, it had depressions; it was excellent. I also enjoyed their somewhat obscure song names, such as “Gnome,” “Dogtown Boogie” and “420-Shakedown. It even had me bobbing my head and snapping my fingers like the jazz aficionado I’m not. At that point, I honestly thought they were going to win the Battle of the Bands.
As Hip Groove left the stage, and the next band, Caravan, started putting their gear up, I knew they were going to be different.
Armed with dreadlocks and tie-dye, the band members organized their lighting system, which included the moving color backdrop used primarily in `60s docudramas to express the wild times. Thus, I was hardly surprised when they started playing Grateful Dead-influenced jam rock. Actually, as the set went on the feel began to harken more towards the Southern-rock sounds of Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers Band. I did get bored after a while because their lead guitarist did most of the improvisation.
Still, they had the place jumping as all the ladies in tie-dye dresses and guys in Phish T-shirts slipped from the back of the crowd to dance in front of the band. Entertaining: yes. Prolific: no.
The last group was Saint Louis University’s own Mississippi Drift. By the time they appeared on stage, most of the crowd had already voted or were too sloshed to even care what their names were, which meant they missed the best act of the night. Unlike the inaccessible jazz of the first act and the drugged-out aura of the second, their music felt very pure.
It was blues, but modernized by complex keyboard and guitar arrangements.
They were a shoo-in for the win. The highlights of the show, unfortunately, had little to with the music in the background. Twice during the set, an obviously intoxicated woman got up on stage and danced for the enthusiastic crowd.
After she tired of the spotlight, a young ruffian sneaked on stage for an impromptu feature performance; he was swiftly escorted offstage by one of the massive bouncers. Still, the band played on valiantly.
In the end, though, the night belonged to Caravan (by three votes over Mississippi Drift no less). The band will now play on Oct. 25 at Cicero’s in the finals, along with last week’s winner CPB.
There will be another one of these lovely qualifiers on Oct. 18. I highly suggest attending these performances, if only for a nice break between study sessions.
