NEAR PERFECTION >>>

Let me list for you the things that were wrong with last Saturday night's Warehouse show at the Peabody Waldorf:

1) The pedal steel guitar for Goldfinch was a little loud to begin with
2) The changeovers between bands felt extraordinarily long, pushing the show late and appearing to cut short the final set

And... that was it. Seriously. It's been quite some time since I've been fortunate enough to see a show as consistently enjoyable, especially over the course of four bands.

After dinner and dorkiness at, well, Dorky's, we arrived part way through Kimo Muraki's opening set. Which was quite unfortunate, because dang the guy-and his band-was good. There has been a wave of popular folk bands doing their best to simultaneously rock out and sweeten the banjo from its bluegrass roots-Mumford & Sons and The Avett Bros. spring immediately to mind-and Muraki succeeds as well as any of them.

It feels odd to call Birds & Batteries the "lowlight" of the evening, because, frankly, they were pretty damn good. All I can really say ill of the band is they didn't really dig their fingers into my musical soul quite the way the other three bands managed to. That and they took forever setting up their array of keyboards. But they were worth the cost of admission just for their highly customized rendition of The Who's "Squeeze Box."

Grand Hallway, featuring two members I had seen before-leader Tomo Nakayama and pianist Shenandoah Davis shared the stage with Goldfinch at the Bumbershoot Seattle Round-possess a degree of energy and spirited rockin'-ness that is belied by the mellow sound you'll find on the band's MySpace recordings.

And then, of course, Goldfinch. For as much time as I spend listening to and talking about this band, I've seen remarkably little of them live. They do not disappoint. The harmonies and interplay between guitar and keyboard that forms their core, while occasionally (as mentioned) overpowered by the pedal steel, pierces the room as well as on any recording.

Aaron Stevens and Grace Sullivan have crafted a thing of beauty with this band, and gathered the musicians around them to carry out its promise. At the risk of sounding pretentiously complex in my choice of words... they're pretty effin' awesome.

Now... can we have a few more shows like that one, please, Tacoma? Thanks.