The Hope Trust, Radiant, Calhoun at Andy’s Bar

Photo by Carmen Holt

If Andy’s Bar was ever “fighting its reputation” (as a 2010 piece in the Dallas Observer suggested), it’s safe to say that the Denton venue stands victorious. In a few short years they have gone from “the Metal venue” to “I wonder what’s going on at Andy’s tonight?” Friday was proof positive – a solid lineup of established indie acts including The Hope Trust, Radiant, and Calhoun.

The evening opened with Fort Worth’s Calhoun, a seasoned traveling band whose vocalist, Tim Locke, won Songwriter of the Year three times at the Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards. Calhoun is an indie rock band for sure, the intensity blossoms throughout their set list and culminates in some very uplifting moments. The real beauty in their dynamic, though, is in the more intimate moments; Locke’s hollow-body Gibson holds hands with the keys while Jordan Roberts’s harmonium breathes.

Radiant, a Dallas pop rock quartet, picked up where Calhoun left off – the rhythms were a bit dancier, the pop a bit more pronounced, and some of the guitar work came straight out of the U2 playbook (can’t go wrong there). Radiant are confident and capable performers, and it’s obvious they’ve been in the game a while.

The finale arrived in the form of Denton’s own The Hope Trust. An audience member turned to me after the pop rock quintet had finished their first song, observing accurately that their sound was “like Tom Petty meets The Wallflowers”. This was the third in a series of tight sets, and watching Kelly Upshaw casually correct a guitar tuning issue mid-song without missing a beat on the vocals was impressive.

Andy’s Bar has thrown their old reputation out of the ring. They appear to have finally embraced social media, and their booking is leaps and bounds ahead of what it was only a year ago. Now if only they’d fix that toilet downstairs…