One EskimO, Great Guys, Great Show

Recently I was offered the opportunity to review a band called "One EskimO" at a local venue in Kansas City called Crossroads.

I'm going to be totally honest for a minute here. I had no idea who this band was. I sent my littlest sister-in-law a message on Facebook to see if she knew of them and I got the response back, "Oooh I LOVE them" so I immediately agreed to do the review.

Here's the band on the stage at the Crossroads. They are an indie rock group from London (except for Pete Rinaldi, the guitarist, he's originally from Australia) and according to Pete, he's known Kristian Leontiou (the lead singer) for about nine years and the band has been together for about four years. They have a bluesy, acoustic blend and sound fantastic.

Let me give you some advice, if you get the opportunity to see these guys live, definitely go! They are extremely talented and they write really great music.

Here is my littlest sister-in-law (she's 14) anxiously waiting for the concert to start. I was pretty excited about this too because they were nice enough to give me a photography press pass for a "no cameras" show, which I thought was really nice of them. I called ahead to confirm with the tour manager that it was okay to bring my DSLR and received a text from him minutes later saying, "I'm getting you a photo press pass, bring the camera, no problem." What a nice guy!

I love this picture I got of Kristian Leontiou. He has a really unique voice and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to him.

This is Jamie Sefton, bass player and horn player. This guy is extremely talented.

I also can't say enough nice things about Adam Falkner, drummer. He rocked it on the drums throughout the show and it was great to meet him. He even offered to make us a cup of tea on the tour bus, how sweet is that?

This particular tour they are opening for Michael Franti and Spearhead, who apparently have a running joke to run onto the stage during One eskimO's performance and do something crazy.

Here's Pete Rinaldi, the guitarist. He is so talented and such a nice guy. We got to interview him on the tour bus after the set and he answered all of our questions and even got me a copy of the setlist for the evening. I also purchased a CD for my sister-in-law at the show and he was nice enough to walk it around to the guys and get it autographed for her.

Michael Franti on the stage with One eskimO in a chicken mask...hilarious!

Pete told us that they originally came to tour in the United States a year ago opening for Tori Amos. He said the most memorable place for him that they have played was Radio City Music Hall in New York City, for two reasons; he said that seeing the band name on the marquee at Radio City Music Hall was surreal and also his sister from Australia happened to be in New York City at the time so she got to see him perform as well.

We asked if the band has anything new in the works and he said that having the tour bus is a nice opportunity for them to be able to work on new music, and one of the songs they played during the show, "Hurricanes", was something new that's not on the current album but will probably be included on the next album.

Setlist for One eskimO at the Crossroads, Kansas City, MO 06/13/2010:

"Giving Up"

"Astronauts"

"Simple Day"

"Amazing"

"Hometime"

"Chocolate"

"Kandi"

"Hurricanes"

"All Balloons"

"UFO"

I can't stress enough if you get a chance to give these guys a listen, you won't be sorry, and if you ever get the opportunity to meet them, DEFINITELY do it - they are some of the nicest guys in the music scene and they were so gracious to me and my sister-in-law, answering all of our questions and letting us hang out with them in the bus after the show. Thanks again, guys!

P.S. You can also find them at www.oneeskimo.com

I was given the opportunity to review this show by the One2One Network. I got 2 free passes to the show but I was not compensated in any other way to do this review. My opinions are 100% my own...and my sister-in-law's. :)