Words and Photos by Jose Serrato
Themed nights have become more and more popular recently around the DFW area. From Emo Nite to Taylor Swift Night, there seems to be something for whatever you might be into. Luis Lopez of Fort Worth band Celestial L’amour had an idea that he presented to The Cicada, the popular South Main club. While working on possibly having a residency at the south side club, Lopez had the idea of putting on a quarterly show that would have local bands play emo covers along with their original material. After a small setback, Sad Panther was born and last night was the first show that included Soviet Space, Celestial L’amour and Alex(andria) Gore.
With people starting to fill in the space, Alex(andria) Gore opened up the night with a mix of original and cover songs that included tacks by Fall Out Boy and Paramore. This was my first time seeing and listening to Alex and I’m glad I showed up on time to catch this set. Gore’s sound that has a mixture of pop and new wave flowed well with their version of “Sugar, We’re Going Down” and “Ain’t It Fun.” I definitely recommend checking out Alex(andria) Gore’s music on streaming sites and live whenever a show pops up.
Celestial L’amour have become seasoned vets in the local DFW scene over the past couple years and their performance proved that. For this set, Celestial and the boys picked to cover a range of songs that went from Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” and Paramore’s Twilight hit “Decode.” The Cicada was nearly full at the start of Celestial’s set, which was nice to see after hearing talks about the state of the local scene recently. Celestial L’amour are one of my favorite bands to see live. The guys are sounding tight as a band and Celestial’s voice proves you don’t need bunch of processing to sound good. I witnessed this firsthand when I had the opportunity to be in the vocal booth with her during the recording of their song”Idol” and heard how great her voice is with no help needed to enhance it.
About 20+ years ago I remember being at local shows nearly every weekend and catching a band named Soviet Space. I’m pretty sure I still have a CD of theirs somewhere in by stash. When Lopez contacted drummer Jordan Richardson about being part of the Sad Panther, Richardson had the choice of having his band Son of Stan perform or reunite his old band Soviet Space. Lopez thought it would be great to have Soviet Space reunite for this unique night. Singer/guitarist John Southard stated before the band started their set that as the older band of the night, their emo cover selections will be a little different. And different they were. From the start we knew we were going back in time a bit. Starting off their set with a song that was likely released before half the crowd were even born, “Stars” by the band Hum. Like the bands before, they too mixed in their original songs. Even playing an unreleased Soviet Space track just to make the song selection even more obscure and dedicated it to Madonna.
So what does the future look like for the Sad Panther? Lopez said he is planning on having another show around November or December and eventually have things run smoother to have one every quarter. This will give bands enough time to decide on what songs to cover and learn them if they don’t already know how. Each show will feature different bands, but they will all have Celestial L’amour on the bill. I’m looking forward to see how this idea evolves and gets bigger after every show.
