Ty Segall, White Fence, Mikal Cronin - The Troubadour - 3/3/12

Aaron Frank

Ty Segall

See also:
*White Fence's Tim Presley Moves Retro Rock Forward
*Top 5 L.A. Garage Rock Bands
*Mikal Cronin: Ty Segall's Homie on the Bay Area Scene, No Doubt, and Making Music His Mom Likes

Ty Segall, White Fence, Mikal Cronin, The Feeling of Love
The Troubadour
3/3/12

Though not technically from L.A., Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin grew up "right down the street" in Orange County, as Segall put it, and played smaller venues like The Smell and The Echo regularly before relocating to San Francisco. Saturday night, however, was their first show in L.A. in a larger venue, and the Troubadour proved to be the perfect backdrop for the garage rock jamboree that raged on for over three hours.

Aaron Frank

Mikal Cronin

After a sold out show in San Francisco the night before, the youthful exuberance on display throughout Cronin, White Fence and Ty Segall's sets still felt distinctly unparalleled. Cronin probably had the most palatable set of the night, bridging the gaps between garage, indie and folk with songs from his self-titled debut. Segall backed him up on guitar and when technical problems arose after a few songs, he took to the mic, urging record execs in the audience to sign Cronin. Coming off shy but passionate, Cronin found his footing on "Get Along" and "You Gotta Have Someone," belting out his special blend of anthemic surf rock.

SoCal transplants White Fence took the stage shortly after, offering up a tight set of uniquely arranged guitar rock. The band's strong rhythm section gave singer Tim Presley enough room to navigate the acoustics of the room with several lengthy jam sessions, a seemingly unfamiliar crowd nodding along in approval. While Presley held the reigns for most of the set, each member of White Fence proved to be integral to the performance, especially drummer Nick Murray, who shredded through the band's 40 minute set with reckless abandon.

Interestingly enough, during the last song of both Cronin's and White Fence's sets mosh pits broke out near the front. But from the very beginning of Ty Segall's set the crowd was clearly amped, and the size and intensity of the pit only grew throughout the show. Having just seen Cloud Nothings at the Echo the night before, where the mosh pit consisted of five guys in aggro-mode blowing off steam from work (depressing, quite frankly), it was good to see the crowd at Ty Segall in better spirits. Admittedly, the crowd was a bit younger, but everyone moving up front at the Troubadour seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves rather than looking to pick a fight.