The Whigs w/American Bang

It's your second-to-last chance to catch this year's Backyard at The Belcourt Outdoor Concert Series and this time the local theater/cultural hub has a full slate of fun-times regional rock. Athens, Ga.'s The Whigs rode the success of a self-released gem recorded on a very tenuous shoestring budget to a record deal with ATO. Their follow-up Mission Control continues to showcase the trio's ragged, propulsive charm-made possible by super-duper drummer Julian Dorio's freakish powers; the dude is mutant good. Frontman Parker Gispert is still plying his nuanced howl over the band's infectious garage-pop, but he might have lost a smidge of the sly underdog shuffle that made their debut Give ’Em All a Big Fat Lip so appealing. Local quartet American Bang is still working the road and waiting on the release of their Warner Bros. debut. Their sound is more distinctively Southern--channeling anthemic classic rock for a formula that can't help but make the college kids raise their beers. Birmingham's Wild Sweet Orange is also on the bill.
Wed., Aug. 20, 7 p.m., 2008