Padre @ Pianos in NYC 5/26

From the lyrical content of Padre’s Left In A Trade it’s obvious the group is a little different from your normal indie rock bands. Who else writes about the transgendered? The group opened Saturday’s show with a song, “Rumors of Recovery,” that included that very topic in its first line, and lead singer Eli Kaplan used his full range of facial expressions to both further illustrate the lyrics and play to the crowd. Kaplan made sure the group’s 45 minute set was full of good times for the entire audience, taking time between songs to speak with the crowd, and at other times to tell us “the floor right by the stage is lonely and wants someone to stand on it” as a way to get people off the wall in the sweaty Pianos performance space and up closer to the stage. It’s always great to see a talented artist having fun while performing and in Padre the audience had the pleasure of seeing just that. It was definitely a great way to spend a Saturday night.