Eisley "Many Funerals" (14.6 MB) from Combinations Barrymore Theatre Madison, WI October 7, 2007

Despite the fact that I hate the venue, I was really excited about Eisley finally coming through Madison, even as an opener. They were the only opening band on the show, so they got to play a pretty decent-length set and seemed well-appreciated by the audience, hopefully enough so that they come back on their own soon.

Now, being a Barrymore show, the usual caveats apply. Primarily, the sound is awful. The treble bounces all over the room in that place, and in an effort to offset it (and to sound like a bigger venue, I suspect), they crank the bass. Surprisingly, the sound in these clips is actually a little better than what got to my plugged ears, but it's still a bit too muffled and distorted on the low end. This song, the opening track from their new album, features a glimpse at the beautiful vocals they bring to most of their tunes, but suffers from the room's acoustics during the breakdown B-section.