Amazing show - Puscifer, 30Nov2011

I was thoroughly satisfied with the performance and the venue. The opening set up and speech - the "storytelling" part - was very enlightening; good stuff for the soul. Speaking of drums - everyone was so excellent, but I have to really give credit to Jeff Friedl. They played a couple of songs from the Conditions of My Parole CD that were not my favorites, but something about his drumming during these songs really made me like them more - maybe it was seeing or hearing it live, or there was something slightly different used equipment-wise from the studio, but those songs seemed enhanced terrifically. Definitely a charming woman, Carina Round was playful with the crowd, but also firm when one loud guy was attempting to heckle. The screen visuals were interesting and fit well with the music throughout the show. I enjoyed the band members interacting with the stage, such as moving parts of the set, or even the change of drum platforms for a couple of the songs. It made everyone appear a bit more "human" than them simply taking a break or intermission while road-crew makes their changes. The "mockumentary" that they show before the music? Watch it. It was so funny - I really hope that there is more to it, and that they maybe release this footage for sale on their website. At the end of the show, the merchandise table was a little expensive in some departments, but music was more than reasonable. I think my wife got a Carina Round CD for $10, and I got the Radford Highlanders CD Combo pack which included their brand new CD "Conditions of My Parole" and their first release "V Is For Vagina" for $15. That's not a bad price AT ALL. When I go to concerts, normally I don't expect too much from the opening acts if I have not had much experience with them, but Carina Round was so very talented and fun. I have so much that I want to say about the show, without giving things away to anyone else interested in seeing Radford Highlanders in concert, so I'll try to highlight things without giving away surprises. In fact, the only bad thing that I saw was that a very small number of people in the crowd were rude and loud, asking the normal questions about the lead singer's other projects - this occurred especially during crowd interaction between songs by Carina, and during a few of the quieter moments during the opening and between songs by Radford Highlanders. I hope that this tour is successful enough that they decide to tour here again, and soon.