Pretty Girls Make Graves

Pretty Girls Make Graves, Moonrats, Call Me Lightning, The Viral Lies
Wednesday, May 23. 8 p.m.
Orpheum
Photo by Shaun Gomez

The air was thick with the smoke of Black and Milds as a sea of females crowded around the front of the stage waiting to hear Pretty Girls Make Graves play one last time in Tampa. When singer Andrea Zollo began the set, men and women alike began to bob their heads and dance to Washington’s own, including friends and family.
The show opened with just music. A girl in a black and pink party dress began to sing to a dark metal kind of music that was later announced as The Viral Lies. A Modest Mouse-esque band named Call Me Lightning played second, followed by an 80’s inspired indie band, Moonrats. And Finally, PGMG took the stage.
The stop at the Orpheum was a part of PGMG’s last tour since one of the band members, Nick Dewitt, quit recently and the band felt that they could not continue without him. So, the show was sentimental enough, but everyone still seemed to have a great time.
PGMG played a variety of songs from their albums, including “Bullet Charm” off the album Élan Vital, to which Andrea said, “We don’t ever play this song, but we are going to play it for you.”
The rest of the songs played included instruments from an accordion to the whistle, to a really big kazoo played by keyboardist Leona Marrs.
Throughout the show, it became evident that PGMG is a pretty interactive band, as several of the band members switched instruments around, by taking turns banging on the drums or switching between guitars.
PGMG was also interactive with the audience, as band members were jumping offstage with guitars and microphones to play and sing from within the crowd of PGMG lovers.
After the band bowed and walked offstage, the audience did not budge. Instead, the crowd waited patiently to see PGMG play some more, which they did. The band finished strong with two of their popular songs: “All Medicated Geniuses,” off their newest album named The New Romance, and “Speakers Push the Air,” from their 2002 album named Good Health.
It was truly a bittersweet night to have to wish such a great band goodbye after enjoying their set one last time.

Published in REAX Music Magazine Vol. 2 Issue #2