It's True Disappoints with Waiting Room Show

It's True performing at Waiting Room 4/1/11

As you know, I have been a big supporter/fan of It's True since 2009, and was among the angry/confused when the band announced it break-up last Summer.

Fast forward to the present, and the band is back (sort of) with a new CD and a handful of live dates. Frontman Adam Hawkins has explained in numerous interviews (like this one with Lazy-I) that "the band" is not really back, and that last weekend's two shows (one in Omaha and one in Lincoln) could be the last ones for quite a while.

So, going to the show, I was expecting something pretty incredible. When one of your favorite new bands announces that they may be playing their last shows for a while (or ever), you want it to be pretty special. Obviously, I was not alone in this. Friday's show at Waiting Room ending up selling out (a first for the local heroes), and it was packed. In addition to the fans, friends, and family of the band, there was a camera crew filming the show, and loads of local photographers taking pictures. Sadly, what we all saw was a less than stellar performance from the band.

It's True decided to open the show by playing the entire new CD, Another Afterlife, in order. This would be the CD that was being released that day, therefore nobody had heard it yet. For the performance of the new material, the band's line-up was expanded to about a dozen people. There were back-up singers, extra guitarists and keyboard players, and the original members played different instruments than they normally play in the band. The result was a haphazard and uninspired performance that bored the shit out of me for the 30 minutes or so it took to perform the album.

I kept wanting it to be better, yet it just dragged on. The addition of seven additional players did not make the sound fuller or more powerful; in fact, it had the opposite effect. After the performance of the new album, the band reverted to its original, five-piece form to perform songs from the first album. While this was better, to be sure, it was obvious that the band was not in as fine a form as it had been prior to the break-up. The musical tightness that comes from a band performing and rehearsing together all the time was absent, and instead, the guys seemed to be individually playing their parts without much regard to what everyone else was doing. It was glaringly obvious that the members of It's True were not much of a band anymore. Of the dozen or so times I've seen It's True perform over the years, last Friday's show was easily the worst. I hate to say that, but it's true. Pardon the pun.

Fortunately, the new CD is really good. At least there's that.