Review and Photos By: Jorge Valcarcel
Friday night brought Philadelphia’s Clap Your Hands Say Yeah to a sold out Casbah.
Fresh off the release of a new album, Only Run, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (CYHSY) have forged out a sound that is all their own thanks to the singer and songwriter, Alec Ounsworth. He was, in fact, their opening act mixing his solo work and acoustic versions of CYHSY favorites like “Details of the War” and “Go Home Yankee”. It was during this set that the noise level in the Casbah began to affect Ounsworth. In truth, it did seem that many people had simply come out to drink and listen to “that song that they heard on the radio”. It is an issue that keeps rearing its ugly head, most recently with Ray LaMontagne, who walked off stage and refused to play until a noisy couple were removed from a venue.
The songs were well played acoustically, but when the band came to back him up, the talking became a (mostly) moot point. Ounsworth’s voice soared and the band rocked old and new to a happy (but still loud) audience. In between songs Ounsworth mumbled little jokes (seemingly to himself) about how loud the crowd was and even joked that he was leaving the stage until people quieted down, a la LaMontagne, but he wasn’t serious. Honestly, their drummer alone hit the skins so hard that I think that people on the planes passing overhead must have heard him! His drumming was on point and his energy was awe-inspiring. The rest of the band was spot on and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah jammed out a great sounding set overpowering the obnoxious and pleasing the fateful.