Samples shake down Bluebird

Sean Kelly still remembers the first time he drove through Indiana. He remembers it so vividly, in fact, that he wrote a song about it. And last night, in the dark caverns of Bluebird Nightclub, the echoes of frontman Kelly's band, the Samples, still rang throughout the building nearly an hour after they left the stage.\nYou've probably never heard them on the radio, and you won't find them chatting with Carson Daly on TRL. But amidst the smoky backdrop of a dimly lit nightclub, the Samples produce some of the most beautiful music you've never heard night after night.\nAnd last night was no exception.\nReeling through 12 songs in over 90 minutes, the Samples took the stage. Opening with a slowed down rendition of "Feel Us Shaking," the band sifted through albums' worth of material, taking the audience through a musical timeline of the Samples catalog. "Wild River," the first single off of their latest studio release Return to Earth, sounded tight and fresh, and "Our Time" was springy and melodic. Bassist Andy Sheldon drew heavy applause after reminiscing about a day he spent swimming in the local quarry made famous in the movie "Breaking Away."\nIn keeping with the local spirit of things, the band did a few short Mellencamp improv jams that never gained enough steam to get off the ground. "There's some good music that comes from Indiana," Kelly told the crowd. But it was the band's rendition of several Neil Young songs ("Cowgirl in the Sand," "Keep on Rockin' in the Free World") that proved to be more than simply covers. Kelly's heavy electric guitar solos injected a new sense of purpose into the older tunes and infused a younger audience with an appreciation for the past.\nIt was Kelly's acoustic rendition of "Indiana" that was the highlight of the evening. Backed up by Alex Matson on the keyboard, Kelly sang the song he wrote about a former girlfriend from the area with enough passion to leave the audience yearning for more. Not since 1997's Transmissions From a Sea of Tranquility had Kelly strummed the song without his bandmates.\nA Rolex couldn't have kept better time than Sam Young's drumming as the band launched from "Taking Us Home" into Tom Petty's "Don't Come Around Here No More," a beautiful transition solidified by his complex rhythms.\nThe only downside to the show was the acoustics in the Bluebird. It was arguably the worst venue I've ever heard a concert performed in. Matson's bass and Young's drums often drowned out Kelly's otherwise crisp vocals, leaving the audience straining to understand what was coming through the microphone. It wasn't the band's fault by any means -- the room simply didn't accommodate their range.\nThe congested aura of the club didn't have any negative impact on the overall quality of the show, but the Samples deserve to play a bigger and better stage next time they come around. And with the band's love for Bloomington, you can be sure that won't be too long in the near future.\n"This is one of my favorite towns in the country," Kelly said. "We love playing here"