FEELS, or, I went to a concert
FEELS is an LA band I’ve seen many times. They’re a muscular rock quartet, and a bit hard to pin down in terms of genre. Some songs have strong punk elements, some surf rock, some alternative, some post-punk, even a little doom. I’ve always found that magpie quality to be one of the most impressive things about them. The other most impressive thing is that they are one of the tightest live bands I’ve ever seen. And now they’re done, and I went to their last show, which was at the Echo last week.
It was the first concert I’d been to since February 2020 (Ramonda Hammer and Summer Cannibals at the Satellite, a venue which no longer exists), and I of course have a lot of thoughts about the last year and a half and covid and being in a crowd indoors again and so on and so forth but honestly just thinking about writing about it is a bit exhausting and I have some difficulty believing it would be interesting. It felt more normal than I expected, but I still was not fully at ease. But when FEELS was playing their encore and handing out champagne and talking about the love they have for their fans, I could feel it. That means a lot.
A brief history of me seeing FEELS
Echo Park Rising, August 2016
The first time I saw FEELS was at Echo Park Rising, a great multi-day free festival I’ve written about before. My friend and I were checking out one of the outdoor stages and happened upon their performance, and we ended up staying for the whole set. At that point I knew I wanted to check them out again.
Silverlake Lounge, October 2016
FEELS were opening for some band or another, I don’t remember who, I wasn’t there to see the headliners. I bought a button and talked to the singer about the design a bit, which is how I learned about lotería cards.
It was almost Halloween so they dressed in costumes, and I remember that the bassist was dressed as Wayne Campbell, which was instantly endearing to me, as the Wayne’s World movies are some of my most-watched. Also, this show was originally going to be at the Satellite (there it is again!) but they got bumped down the street because, uh, Lady Gaga decided she wanted to play there that night.
The Echo, February 2018
I’ll be honest, I don’t really remember this one, but at some point I wrote down all the concerts I went to in 2017 and part of 2018, and here this one is. Probably just went because it had been awhile since I’d seen them. They headlined this one, so that’s nice.
Levitt Pavilion, June 2018
Levitt Pavilion is a bandshell in the middle of MacArthur Park that reopened relatively recently, so in summer 2018 the city was putting on free concerts there, and FEELS was one of the acts. It was a nice community event, there were kids around and food trucks and of course it’s all in the middle of a park. I don’t remember the weather but it was probably great. Just a nice thing that’s nice to be able to take part in, and the music was the cherry on top.
Gold Diggers, probably February 2019?
Gold Diggers is a weird spot. Used to be a strip club, now is a dive bar and occasional music venue, but it’s tiny. Also it’s in a bit of an awkward spot, a mile or two from other places you might want to be. So seeing a show there is always a bit different. This show was an album release, and it was packed. I think Shannon Lay had blown up at this point, and FEELS was on a bigger label than before, so it felt like everyone wanted to see them. It was good, though I sat at the bar for most of it because the rest of the venue was impossible to navigate for all the people so tightly packed.
and now it’s over
All but maybe one of those shows I went to with that same friend that I saw FEELS with at Echo Park Rising 5 years ago. It hasn’t felt that long. It’s strange to think of this minor chapter in my life as being over now; it’s strange to think that it covered enough time and memories to constitute a minor chapter. FEELS is one of the only bands for which I’ve ever felt “you’ve gotta see ‘em live”1, and that’s impossible now. From here on out it’ll just be “oh they were great, you shoulda seen ‘em.” I guess it’s about time I start to pile up that sort of thing.
I don’t agree with the production choices on their first album; they come off as totally different type of band. Still solid, but better live.