Dynamic Range.

That is my watch word, after having seen The Frames twice in the span of a week. This band alternates between some of the quietest, low-key performances that I have ever seen live, and the most full-on, loud rock that you can imagine.

Example of the latter: \"Revelate\", which is a hard rock anthem if ever there was one. Example of the former: Glen was gifted a small guitar, and brought it out to play a solo acoustic cover of a REM song (\"Hairshirt\"), without microphones. Glen moved to an area of the stage where the was no microphone, the Fillmore got deathly quiet, and we all listened intently to Glen and a guitar, unamplified.

The setlist was mostly the same as it was in Chicago, with some important additions (like the song that I mentioned above), and the second encore was fairly different. Overall, I actually thought that the crowd in Chicago was better — they were more into it, and singing along more. But the SF crowd was still good, and I think that the Frames were really enjoying themselves, because they played even longer in SF than they did in Chicago, going for nearly two and a half hours.

I believe that the last three songs played were \"Your Face\" (which isn't my favorite song, but was amazing live), \"Fitzcarraldo\", and \"The Banana Song\". The latter being was just great — Glen started by saying that his neice told him one day that she likes him, but she didn't like his music because it was all sad. So, she asked if he knew any happy songs, and he didn't, but she had brought a banana into the room with her, so he made up \"The Banana Song\" on the spot for her. And it is as it says — it's an ode to Bananas, and how everyone loves them.

Here's a representation of what the band looked like, while playing:

All in all, The Frames never fail to deliver on a great time. If you ever have a chance to see them life, you shouldn't hesitate to go. More photos on Flickr.

-Andy.