The Thorns and The Jayhawks live in Portland

Julie and I had a date last night - went out for some great food at the Southpark Seafood Grill & Wine Bar then headed over to the Roseland Theater for a night with The Thorns and The Jayhawks. As I've mentioned before, Julie and I are long-time Matthew Sweet fans (we've seen him twice before, and his breakthrough album Girlfriend came out right when we got married), so that was the primary draw for us. The Jayhawks are no slouches either - I've been a fan for about 5 years and their new album Rainy Day Music is a classic. If you are a fan of alt-country (like Uncle Tupelo, Sun Volt, even Lyle Lovett) or harmony groups (CSN, Buffalo Springfield, Beach Boys), you must check these two groups out.

Brief review of the concert: The Thorns were much better than I expected, and The Jayhawks were a little worse. It came down to energy and execution - The Thorns were very tight and enthusiastic, while Gary Louris of the Jayhawks seemed to be having a low-energy night. I was hoping for at least one song from the combined group - The Thorns covered "Blue" by the Jayhawks on their album, and Matthew Sweet has appeared as a background vocalist on several Jayhawks albums. Didn't happen last night though.