Rootsy indie rockers Delta Spirit are one of those rare groups who sound great on record but sound even better live, their compressed MP3 form only suggesting the vibrant energy the quintet emanates live. Onstage, vocalist-guitarist Matt Vasquez growls and mewls unpredictably, multi-instrumentalist Kelly Winrich plays keyboards, bangs on trashcan lids and pounds giant drums the likes ones you last saw at band camp and everybody else bounces about with glee. In short: they’re great showmen. At last night’s early evening performance at New York City’s Webster Hall, their antics were the quickest throughway for the sold-out crowd, who treated songs from the group’s recently released Delta Spirit like tunes they had known for years. Here’s how night breaks down:
Percent of show by openers Waters that Delta Spirit frontman Matt Vasquez watched from the balcony: Nearly 100
Number of songs where Vasquez joined Waters onstage, to sing a “Forever! Forever!” chorus: 1
Time Delta Spirit take the stage: 8:53 p.m.
Minutes elapsed before Vasquez encourages the audience to clap along with him: 2.6
Number of times the audience claps along over the course of the evening: 4
Amount of time into “Strange Vine” where Vasquez held his guitar under his chin like a violin: 8 seconds
Times during “Strange Vine” where Vasquez arched his eyebrows suggestively, garnering approving audience woots: 2, especially when he sang “Maybe I’ll make a home with you”
Number of triangles in the group’s lighted backdrop, on the drum kit and projected onto the floor that could possibly be displayed at any given time: Infinite (10 triangle shapes in the lighting rig, one on the bass drum, as many lighted triangles as the mind can dream — but more accurately about 16)
Song that gets the entire sold-out crowd pogoing: “People C’Mon”
Times it felt like the balcony was going to cave in and crush the good, hard-working people beneath it: 4, at least
Song dedicated to Vasquez’s wife: “Yamaha,” which contains the nakedly confessional lyric “I’ve been alone too many nights / Too proud to tell you when you’re right”
Number of times during “Yamaha” Vasquez tenderly sings into his guitar pickups: 1
Songs on which multi-instrumentalist Kelly Winrich simultaneously plays a giant drum, maraca, and tambourine: “Children”
Number of shoes that fall off guitarist Will McLaren’s feet over the course of the evening: 2
Number of shoes returned to McLaren’s feet during a brief part of “Children” he didn’t play on: 2
Number of times Vasquez openly questions whether opening band Waters put a curse on him: 2, after he dropped his guitar, saying, “Thank you, Waters. We couldn’t ask for a better opening band.”
Song which Winrich simultaneously plays a tambourine and a trashcan lid: “Trashcan”
Number of songs during which a trashcan lid had laid useless against Brandon Young’s bass drum: 16, all but “Trashcan”
Number of trashcan lids thrown safely at the end: 1
Number of drum stools Vasquez dangerously throws into the air as he leaves the stage for the night, which narrowly misses the percussion area: 1
Time Delta Spirit say goodbye for the night: 10:13
Number of minutes Delta Spirit went past the start time of the Girls Night Out/Big Sean Birthday Bash held at Webster Hall the same night (according to balleralert.com): 13
Number of Baller Alerts that could be issued during a Delta Spirit set: 0
