Olympic Hopefuls at the Cave

The Olympic Hopefuls last night were both better than when they played the Cave last spring and better than they are on their pretty good debut album.

It seems like they've gotten a lot more comfortable playing together and they now allow for more variation with their songs. They played three that weren't from the record, and those that were had a lot more embellishment than what I heard last year. They used the keyboards for even better atmospheric effect than on record and the guitars sounded bigger and louder, which certainly didn't hurt.

They were also more dramatic than last time. This was partly because they extended the songs, including more and longer crescendos than you get in the usual three or four minutes per track, and also because they seemed to get louder and more exciting as the night went on. The guitar duelling after "Stoned Again" to close out the set was unexpected, but fit right in with the vibe they had going.

It's hard to say whether their next album will succeed in proportion to how much they've improved as a band in the past year, but if it does, I think it's safe to say they'll be moving on to bigger and better things.