I'm probably the least objective person to be writing this review. I've been obsessed with Single Frame since they were called Single Frame Ashtray back in the day, and they would have had to work pretty hard to disappoint me. I really don't know what I would have done if they had sucked; what do you do when your favorite bands fail to live up to your ultra-high expectations? I can’t say it hasn’t happened to me before. I didn't know anyone who had seen Single Frame’s live show, so I had no idea what I’d be in for. Luckily for me, the show went so far above and beyond those expectations, I didn't have anything to worry about! Their set was incredible and Single Frame members Brendan, Adreon, and Jason proved to be some of the coolest people I’ve ever met, totally worthy of my admiration.

The show opened at about 9:45 with New Jersey's Up Up Down Down, short for Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start, which is apparently the code for some Nintendo game to get 30 free lives. Or so they say; I actually got into a discussion later with someone in the crowd concerning whether or not it was actually A B, and if there was a Select in there somewhere. I plead ignorance. The band itself was pretty standard indie-rock-plus-screaming fare, but they did it decently well. I can always enjoy a good scream. My favorite part of this band was the drummer; he screamed during a few of the songs, and instead of having a regular microphone, he had this headset on; I think it was because he was such a spazz on the drums he needed more controlled access to the mike. They played a pretty short set of about 25 minutes, and overall they were enjoyable.

Up next was Chicago's Life at Sea, which features a former member of Braid. It was pretty obvious right away which one used to be in Braid, as he was clearly the most "emo"-looking of the group, with a funky haircut and the ironic trucker hat on. Their set was definitely a lot mellower than Up Up Down Down, and to be honest I wasn’t really paying a whole lot of attention to them anyway.

Finally it was time for Single Frame to take the stage, and for me to just about faint with anticipation. I've had their debut album Wetheads Come Running for well over a year now, and it's pretty much worn down from overplay. I've been dying to know what they would be like live; I wondered if they would bring something new to the songs I've already heard so many times on CD. With the majority of the audience more or less unfamiliar with the band and there based on buzz alone, Single Frame definitely needed to make a good first impression on the mostly young, fickle college-aged crowd to get them to stick around. And with the venue being all-ages and alcohol-free, they couldn’t rely on anyone’s drunken perception of the music to get them by.

The band played in pretty much total darkness, minus a red and blue light shining on the stage and a couple of small televisions glowing with static throughout the show. The lighting really set the mood as they began with a slow, intense intro that just built up the suspense- until they launched into "$7 Haircut" and proceeded to fill me with pure joy at how AMAZING they sounded. They aren't a Tinymixtapes favorite for nothing, people! Their stage presence was fantastic, and I pretty much couldn't take my eyes off of them for a second except to survey the crowd around me, which was definitely responding. In addition to hearing several new songs, the old stuff went over in a whole new light- favorites like “Post Daydream Forecast Endeavor” and “Comm. Jet” came off darker, with more feedback and distortion than can be found on the recorded tracks. Those who own the album know that several of the tracks are short, random samples of sound; we were treated to something similar between songs with brief recordings of things like University of Wisconsin football commentary, which was appropriate considering the venue was the University’s student union. Single Frame has always been sort of all over the place musically, partly due to the fact that all three of the members sing, and it was just so great to finally see that diversity in the flesh. The show came to a close with drummer Adreon Henry slowly knocking over his drum set piece by piece as the feedback from their final song faded away, which got a great reaction from everyone in the audience and was a stellar way to end the night.

If you couldn't tell already, I absolutely loved the show, and I just can't say enough good things about these guys now that they've proven themselves to be a great band both in their recordings and on stage. I just hope they remember playing in little venues like this one when they're huge stars :) .