Twenty minutes after nine, foiled by the punctuality of Georgia Theatre 2.0 I missed The District Attorneys opening set. From the look of things around me, most people did. Maybe they were on the roof?
 
David Barbe wanted it darker on stage. In a moment he and The Quick Hooks were in the shadows cast by ice blue lights. I imagine what Barbe wants Barbe gets when it comes to lighting, and bandmates. 
Household names, every one: Neff, Serrano, Spence, MacDonnell. The songs unfold with steady urgency—never really detonating or completely bottoming out—always wrought with emotion.Â
“I gotta stop building up these walls to avoid thinking about you,†breathes Barbe on “Mole in the Gutter,†sotto voce, while the rest of the players swallow the Theatre in an elaborate soundscape punctuated by the steady rumble of Spence’s drums.Â
Admission was discounted with a ticket stub from the Alabama Shakes show a few nights earlier. I discovered
Centro-Matic
Alabama Shakes when they opened for Drive-By Truckers in Macon on 11-11-11. I remember the date 
because it’s easy and they were good. Centro-Matic was brought to my attention in similar fashion, as a DBT opener once upon a time.
Between sets the Georgia Theatre PA played songs by Mumford & Sons, Foo Fighters and Smashing Pumpkins.
With a barely detectable pulse Centro-Matic eased into their headlining set with  “Love You Just The Same,†from 2004’s (awesome) Flashes and Cables. Is it really a love song? Will Johnson’s lyrics make that impossible to tell, or at the very least open to interpretation. Tonight, I’ll believe it is. About midway through their set the band welcomed guitarist Patterson Hood and pedal steel player Matt Stoessel to the stage for a pair of songs—“In Such Crooked Time,†from 2006’s Fort Recovery and a song called “Bakersfield,†I don’t remember hearing before. As guest appearances go, it was less than memorable, but considering Johnson’s long history with our town and these players specifically, we’ll issue a pass. Unfortunately the set list passed over material from the All The Falsest Hearts Can Try, and I wonder how frequently they cull from the early psychedelic-tinged album considering the abundance of material released in the twelve years since…In any event, they closed with “Only In My Double Mind,†from last summer’s Candidate Waltz, and it was nearly impossible to pay attention as two young lovers in oblivion nearly reached third base a few inches to the right of me.
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