For some reason the Grates’ show at Monolith wasn’t as fantastic as when I caught them at SXSW. They were on a higher, more removed platform which could have been part of the problem. At SXSW, Patience jumped down into the crowd, swirled her ribbon and even shared her microphone with the audience. But at Monolith we had to watch from afar. Granted, it was only like five feet, but apparently that makes all the difference in the world.

Even so, the Grates sounded top notch. The new songs were nice, as was everything from Gravity Won’t Get You High, including my favorite live song of theirs, “19 20 20.” If you aren’t opposed to any fun and frivolity, please see the Grates as soon as possible. There’s a reason I’ve misspelled their name the Greates twice while writing this short post — it’s a Freudian slip in the best possible way.